Yun Deng et al. describe the mechanism by which the beneficial endophyte Bacillus subtilis BSn5 evades plant defences. They show that BSn5 produces lantibiotic subtilomycin that binds to self-produced flagellin to mask the flg22 epitope, enabling colonization of Arabidopsis plants.
- Yun Deng
- Hanqiao Chen
- Ming Sun