RPS2 of Arabidopsis thaliana: A leucine-rich repeat class of plant disease resistance genes

Plant disease resistance genes function in highly specific pathogen recognition pathways. RPS2 is a resistance gene of Arabidopsis thaliana that confers resistance against Pseudomonas syringae bacteria that express a virulence gene avrRpt2. RPS2 was isolated by the use of a positional cloning strategy. The derived amino acid sequence of RPS2 contains leucine-rich repeat, membrane-spanning, leucine zipper, and P loop domains. The function of the RPS2 gene product in defense signal transduction is postulated to involve nucleotide triphosphate binding and protein-protein interactions and may also involve the reception of an elicitor produced by the avirulent pathogen.