Exocyst components promote an incompatible interaction between Glycine max (soybean) and Heterodera glycines (the soybean cyst nematode)

Vesicle and target membrane fusion involves tethering, docking and fusion. The GTPase SECRETORY4 (SEC4) positions the exocyst complex during vesicle membrane tethering, facilitating docking and fusion. Glycine max (soybean) Sec4 functions in the root during its defense against the parasitic nematode Heterodera glycines as it attempts to develop a multinucleate nurse cell (syncytium) serving to nourish the nematode over its 30-day life cycle. Results indicate that other tethering proteins are also important for defense. The G. max exocyst is encoded by 61 genes: 5 EXOC1 (Sec3), 2 EXOC2 (Sec5), 5 EXOC3 (Sec6), 2 EXOC4 (Sec8), 2 EXOC5 (Sec10) 6 EXOC6 (Sec15), 31 EXOC7 (Exo70) and 8 EXOC8 (Exo84) genes. At least one member of each gene family is expressed within the syncytium during the defense response. Syncytium-expressed exocyst genes function in defense while some are under transcriptional regulation by mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs). The exocyst component EXOC7-H4-1 is not expressed within the syncytium but functions in defense and is under MAPK regulation. The tethering stage of vesicle transport has been demonstrated to play an important role in defense in the G. max-H. glycines pathosystem, with some of the spatially and temporally regulated exocyst components under transcriptional control by MAPKs.