A tail of 2 proteins: the cytoplasmic tail of Cf receptor-like proteins modulates effector-triggered activation of cell death

Plant immune receptor proteins detect molecular signatures of pathogen infection to activate defense responses. Most receptor proteins belong to one of two groups: receptors at the cell surface survey the apoplast, while nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) receptors detect molecules which have been secreted by a pathogen and translocated into the host cell. Cell surface receptors share an extracellular, ligand-binding, “sensor” domain and a transmembrane domain. They can be further subdivided into receptor-like kinases (RLKs or RKs), which contain an intracellular kinase domain, and receptor-like proteins (RLPs or RPs), which lack a kinase domain and instead typically have a short intracellular C-terminal tail (Fig. 1a).