Fig. 2: AvrPm4⁹⁶²²⁴ induces cell death in Pm4b-containing wheat protoplasts.

a,b, Protoplasts generated from a transgenic line overexpressing Pm4b (a) and its Pm4b-free sister line (b) were transfected with different Avr effectors. AVR-Rmg8 was used as a positive control, while AvrPm3^a2/f2 and AvrSr50 served as negative controls. In the presence of Pm4b, AvrPm4⁹⁶²²⁴ induced cell death in wheat protoplasts, in contrast to the mutant and truncated versions Bgt-55142^4AB-2 and Bgt-55142^4AB-6. c, Transfection of Pm4b-V1, Pm4b-V2 and AvrPm4⁹⁶²²⁴, but not Bgt-55142^4AB-2 (avrPm4^4AB-2), induced cell death in protoplasts of the wheat cultivar Bobwhite S26. Pm4b-V2 shows autoactivity, leading to increased cell death in all tests containing Pm4b-V2. For all three panels, each treatment was assessed with two technical and three biological replicates, and the experiments were repeated three times (total n = 9 biological replicates per experiment). The height of the bars shows the mean value for all the replicates, and the whiskers show the standard deviation. Statistical significance (P < 0.05) was determined using a two-sided analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey’s honestly significant difference (HSD) test. Bars with the same letter are not significantly different.