The autophosphorylated Ser686, Thr688, and Ser689 residues in the intracellular juxtamembrane domain of XA21 are implicated in stability control of rice receptor-like kinase

The rice gene Xa21 confers resistance against Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo). Xa21 encodes a receptor-like kinase (XA21). We demonstrate that XA21 autophosphorylates residues Ser686, Thr688 and Ser689 in vitro. Substitution of these residues with alanines did not affect the autophosphorylation function of this kinase, but specifically destabilized the resistance protein in vitro and in vivo. Plants carrying these same substitutions in XA21 were compromised in their resistance to the normally avirulent Xoo Philippine race 6. Additionally, we show that wild-type XA21 and the kinase-dead mutant with the invariable Lys736 residue mutated to glutamic acid were also proteolytically degraded in protein extracts. Finally, we show a correlation between the in vitro degradation and in vivo instability of the proteins. We propose that autophosphorylation of Ser686, Thr688 and Ser689 functions to stabilize XA21 against the developmentally controlled proteolytic activity.