¹H, ¹⁵N and ¹³C resonance assignment of cerato-populin, a fungal PAMP from Ceratocystis populicola

Plant pathogenic fungi secrete several non-catalytic proteins involved in various aspects of the pathogenesis process. Amongst these, cerato-populin (Pop1) produced by Ceratocystis populicola; a protein orthologous of cerato-platanin (CP), the core member of the CP family. These two proteins interact with host and non-host plants. In plane leaves they induce synthesis of phytoalexins, disruption of intercellular and intracellular leaf tissue, cell plasmolysis, programmed cell death, over-expression of defence-related genes, H₂O₂ and NO production, activation of MAPK cascade and plant resistance. All these features point to CP and Pop1 as defence inducers, though Pop1 shows a reduced efficiency. Pop1/CP similarity is 73 %. CD spectroscopy highlights some secondary structure differences between Pop1 and CP. Indeed, the region between the first two cysteines (C20–C57), that in CP includes the β₂-strand and it is involved in GlcNAc (N-acetyl-d-glucosamine) interaction, in Pop1 is predicted to be fully disordered.