Hypersensitive response elicitor-derived peptides and use thereof

1. A method of controlling nematode infection in plants, the method comprising:

contacting a plant or plant seed with a peptide that is 13 to 50 amino acids in length and comprises the amino acid sequence of:

(i)

(SEQ ID NO: 2)

L-X-X-L-L-L-X-(F/L)-(I/L)-X-X-X-L,

wherein

X at position 3 is optional and, when present, is selected from Asp (D), isoD, Glu (E), γ-glutamate, Gln (Q), Asn (N), Ser (S), and Gly (G), and

each X at positions 2, 7, 10, 11, and 12 is independently selected from Met (M), Ala (A), Asp (D), isoD, Glu (E), γ-glutamate, Gln (Q), Asn (N), Ser (S), and Gly (G); or

(ii)

(SEQ ID NO: 3)

(Q/E)-(Q/E)-(L/I/V/F)-X-X-(L/I/V/F)-(L/I/V/F)-

(L/I/V/F)-X-(L/I/V/F)-(L/I/V/F)-X-X-X-

(L/I/V/F)-(D/G/Q/E)-(D/G/Q/E),

wherein

X at position 5 is optional and, when present, is selected from Asp (D), isoD, Glu (E), γ-glutamate, Gln (Q), Asn (N), Ser (S), and Gly (G), and

each X at positions 4, 9, 12, 13, and 14 is independently selected from Met (M), Ala (A), Asp (D), isoD, Glu (E), γ-glutamate, Gln (Q), Asn (N), Ser (S), and Gly (G); or

(iii)

(SEQ ID NO: 4)

(L/I/V/F)-X-X-(L/I/V/F)-(L/I/V/F)-(L/I/V/F)-X-

(L/I/V/F)-(L/I/V/F)-X-X-X-(L/I/V/F)-

(D/G/Q/E)-(D/G/Q/E),

wherein

X at position 3 is optional and, when present, is selected from Asp (D), isoD, Glu (E), γ-glutamate, Gln (Q), Asn (N), Ser (S), and Gly (G), and

each X at positions 2, 7, 10, 11, and 12 is independently selected from Met (M), Ala (A), Asp (D), isoD, Glu (E), γ-glutamate, Gln (Q), Asn (N), Ser (S), and Gly (G); or

(iv)

(SEQ ID NO: 5)

(Q/E)-(Q/E)-(L/I/V/F)-X-X-(L/I/V/F)-(L/I/V/F)-

(L/I/V/F)-X-(L/I/V/F)-(L/I/V/F)-X-X-X-

(L/I/V/F),

wherein

X at position 5 is optional and, when present, is selected from Asp (D), isoD, Glu (E), γ-glutamate, Gln (Q), Asn (N), Ser (S), and Gly (G), and

each X at positions 4, 9, 12, 13, and 14 is independently selected from Met (M), Ala (A), Asp (D), isoD, Glu (E), γ-glutamate, Gln (Q), Asn (N), Ser (S), and Gly (G); and

growing the contacted plant, or a plant from the contacted plant seed, in nematode infested soil, wherein said contacting is effective to cause a reduction in nematode infection of the contacted plant or the plant from the contacted seed as compared to an untreated plant or plant grown from untreated seed, respectively.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said contacting is carried out by applying the peptide, or a composition comprising the peptide, to the plant or the locus where the plant is being grown.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said contacting is carried out by applying the peptide, or a composition comprising the peptide, to the plant seed, and the method further comprises planting the contacted plant seed in the nematode infested soil.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the plant is a transgenic plant and said contacting is carried out by expression of the peptide by the transgenic plant.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said contacting is carried out by exposing the plant or plant seed, or the locus where the plant is being grown, to a recombinant beneficial microbe that expresses the peptide.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said contacting is carried out by applying the peptide, a composition comprising the peptide, or a recombinant beneficial microbe that expresses the peptide to the locus where the plant is or will be grown.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein X at position 3 of SEQ ID NO: 2 or 4 is not present; or X at position 5 of SEQ ID NO: 3 or 5 is not present.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein X at position 2 of SEQ ID NO: 2 or 4 is selected from the group consisting of D, isoD, E, and γ-glutamate; or X at position 4 of SEQ ID NO: 3 or 5 is selected from the group consisting of D, isoD, E, and γ-glutamate.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the peptide is free of cysteine and methionine.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein X at position 7 of SEQ ID NO: 2 or 4 is selected from the group consisting of A, M, G, S, or E, and each X at positions 10, 11, and 12 of SEQ ID NO: 2 or 4 is selected independently from the group consisting of M, A, G, S, and E; or X at position 9 of SEQ ID NO: 3 or 5 is selected from the group consisting of A, M, G, S, or E, and each X at positions 12, 13, and 14 of SEQ ID NO: 3 or 5 is selected independently from the group consisting of M, A, G, S, and E.

11. The method according to claim 1 further comprising a hydrophilic amino acid sequence comprising from two to ten hydrophilic amino acid residues at either the N-terminal or C-terminal end of SEQ ID NO: 2, 3, 4, or 5.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the peptide comprises the amino acid sequence of:

(i)

(SEQ ID NO: 3)

(Q/E)-(Q/E)-(L/I/V/F)-X-X-(L/I/V/F)-(L/I/V/F)-

(L/I/V/F)-X-(L/I/V/F)-(L/I/V/F)-X-X-X-

(L/I/V/F)-(D/G/Q/E)-(D/G/Q/E),

wherein

X at position 5 is optional and, when present, is selected from D, isoD, E, γ-glutamate, Q, N, S, and G, and

each X at positions 4, 9, 12, 13, and 14 is independently selected from M, A, D, isoD, E, γ-glutamate, Q, N, S, and G; or

(ii) 

(SEQ ID NO: 4)

(L/I/V/F)-X-X-(L/I/V/F)-(L/I/V/F)-(L/I/V/F)-X-

(L/I/V/F)-(L/I/V/F)-X-X-X-(L/I/V/F)-

(D/G/Q/E)-(D/G/Q/E),

wherein

X at position 3 is optional and, when present, is selected from D, isoD, E, γ-glutamate, Q, N, S, and G, and

each X at positions 2, 7, 10, 11, and 12 is independently selected from M, A, D, isoD, E, γ-glutamate, Q, N, S, and G; or

(iii)

(SEQ ID NO: 5)

(Q/E)-(Q/E)-(L/I/V/F)-X-X-(L/I/V/F)-(L/I/V/F)-

(L/I/V/F)-X-(L/I/V/F)-(L/I/V/F)-X-X-X-

(L/I/V/F), 

wherein

X at position 5 is optional and, when present, is selected from D, isoD, E, γ-glutamate, Q, N, S, and G, and

each X at positions 4, 9, 12, 13, and 14 is independently selected from M, A, D, isoD, E, γ-glutamate, Q, N, S, and G.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the peptide consists essentially of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 3 or SEQ ID NO: 5.

14. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the isolated peptide has an average Kyte-Doolittle hydropathy index of less than 0.7.

15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the peptide comprises the amino acid sequence of one of SEQ ID NOS: 140, 13, 15-19, 25-28, 36, and 51-53.

16. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the peptide comprises the amino acid sequence of one of SEQ ID NOS: 8-12, 139, 14, 20, 29, 33, 30, 50, 34, 54, 42, 55, 43, 56, 44, and 57.

17. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the peptide comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2.

18. The method according to claim 17 , wherein the amino acid at position 8 is F and the amino acid at position 9 is I.

19. The method according to claim 17 , wherein the peptide further comprises (Q/E)-(Q/E) residues immediately preceding SEQ ID NO: 2, (D/G/Q/E)-(D/G/Q/E) residues immediately following SEQ ID NO: 2, or both.

20. The method according to claim 19 , wherein the peptide contains up to 20 amino acids preceding SEQ ID NO: 2 and up to 5 amino acids following SEQ ID NO: 2.

21. The method according to claim 17 , wherein any Lys or Arg residues in said peptide are substituted by Glu and an Arg residue is introduced at the C-terminal end of said peptide.

22. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the peptide comprises the amino acid sequence of:

(i) one of SEQ ID NOS: 8-26, 28, 29, 31-33, 35-38, 40, 41, 46-48, 52, 62, 139, 545, or 546; or

(ii) one of SEQ ID NOS: 8-26, 28, 29, 31-33, 35-38, 40, 41, 46-48, 52, 62, 139, 545, or 546 except that an Arg residue is introduced at the C-terminal end of said peptide.

23. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the peptide is a fusion polypeptide comprising a first amino acid sequence for said peptide linked to a second amino acid sequence for said peptide.

24. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the nematode is from the genus Heterodera, Rotylenchulus, Meloidogyne, Pratylenchus, Anguina, Ditylenchus.

25. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the plant to be treated is selected from the group consisting of alfalfa, apple, apricot, asparagus, avocados, bananas, barley, beans, beech, begonia, birch, blackberry, blueberry, cabbage, camphor, canola, carrot, castor oil plant, cherry, cinnamon, citrus, cocoa bean, coffee, corn, cotton, cucumber, cucurbit, eucalyptus, fir, flax, fodder beet, fuchsia, garlic, geranium, grapes, ground nut, hemp, hop, juneberry, juncea, jute, lentil, lettuce, linseed, melon, mustard, oak, oats, oil palm, oil-seed rape, olive, onion, paprika, pea, peach, pear, pelargonium, peppers, petunia, pine, poplar, pome fruit, potato, rape, raspberry, rice, rubber tree, rye, sorghum, soybean, spinach, spruce, squash, strawberry, sugar beet, sugar cane, sunflower, tea, teak, tobacco, tomato, triticale, turf, watermelon, wheat and willow.

26. A method of controlling nematode infection in plants, the method comprising:

contacting a plant or plant seed with a peptide that is 13 to 50 amino acids in length and comprises an amino acid sequence of (L/I/V/F)-X-X-(L/I/V/F)-(L/I/V/F)-(L/I/V/F)-X-(L/I/V/F)-(L/I/V/F)-X-X-X-(L/I/V/F) (SEQ ID NO: 1), wherein

X at position 3 is optional and, when present, is selected from Asp (D), isoD, Glu (E), γ-glutamate, Gln (Q), Asn (N), Ser (S), and Gly (G), and

each X at positions 2, 7, 10, 11, and 12 is independently selected from Met (M), Ala (A), Asp (D), isoD, Glu (E), γ-glutamate, Gln (Q), Asn (N), Ser (S), and Gly (G); and

growing the contacted plant, or a plant from the contacted plant seed, in nematode infested soil, wherein said contacting is effective to cause a reduction in nematode infection of the contacted plant or the plant from the contacted seed as compared to an untreated plant or plant grown from untreated seed, respectively.