Novel Functions of Stomatal Cytokinesis-Defective 1 (SCD1) in Innate Immune Responses against Bacteria

Eukaryotes employ complex immune mechanisms for protection against microbial pathogens. Here, we identified SCD1 (Stomatal Cytokinesis-Defective 1), previously implicated in growth and development through its role in cytokinesis and polarized cell expansion (Falbel, T. G., Koch, L. M., Nadeau, J.A., Segui-Simarro, J.M., Sack, F. D., and Bednarek, S.Y. (2003) Development 130, 4011-4024) as a novel component of innate immunity. In Arabidopsis, SCD1 is a unique gene encoding for the only protein containing a complete DENN (Differentially Expressed in Normal and Neoplastic cells) domain. The DENN domain is a largely uncharacterized tripartite protein motif conserved among eukaryotic proteins. We show that conditional scd1-1 plants containing a point mutation in a conserved DENN residue affected a subset of signaling responses to some bacterial pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). Consistent with increased transcript accumulation of Pathogen-related (PR) genes, scd1-1 plants were more resistant to Pseudomonas syringae pathovar tomato (Pst) DC3000 infection implicating SCD1 as a negative regulator of basal resistance against bacteria. scd1-1 plants were different from known mutants exhibiting constitutive expressor of PR(cpr)-like phenotypes, in that growth impairment of scd1-1 plants was genetically independent of constitutive immune response activation. For scd1-1, shift to elevated temperature or introduction of a mutant allele in Salicylic acid Induction-Deficient 2 (SID2) suppressed constitutive defense response activation. sid2-2 also repressed the resistance phenotype of scd1-1. Temperature shift and sid2-2, however, did not rescue conditional growth and sterility defects of scd1-1. These results implicate SCD1 in multiple cellular pathways, possibly by affecting different proteins. Overall, our studies identified a novel role for eukaryotic DENN proteins in immunity against bacteria.