Plant-encoded biosensors

Borrowing plant immune receptors to sense microbes (scoping notes)

AI Gene Review · projects/BIOSENSORS · 2026

Bottom line

  • ORNL's SEED SFA builds plant biosensors that sense microbes through immune receptors and report or respond.
  • Flagship: a chitin sensor that splits GFP across LYK5 and kinase-dead CERK1; chitin pairing rebuilds fluorescence.
  • Scoped, not started as curation: 12 of the 20 listed Arabidopsis genes already have reviews from other work; none of the TODOs is done.

The engineered chitin sensor

Why curate the parts

  • A sensor inherits the specificity of its receptors and the wiring of the pathway it taps.
  • Receptor classes of interest: LRR-RLKs (FLS2, EFR, BAK1), LysM-RLKs (CERK1, LYK5, LYK4), lectin RLKs (Populus PtLecRLK1).
  • Downstream responses the page tracks: ROS burst (RBOHD), MAPK activation, SA/SAR genes (NPR1, PR genes); defense promoters can drive reporters.
  • Other SEED designs noted: split-intein dimerization sensor, Plant RNA Vision RNA biosensor.

Which parts have reviews

Status and next steps

  • ⬜ Map genes to UniProt/TAIR IDs.
  • ⬜ Review the missing receptors first: LYK5, LYK4 (the chitin sensor's own parts), PEPR1/2.
  • ⬜ Cross-reference Arabidopsis defense pathway annotations; move EFR and BIK1 off INITIALIZED.
  • ⬜ Identify orthologs in Populus trichocarpa.

Read more: projects/BIOSENSORS.md · genes/ARATH/CERK1/