Activation of an atypical plant NLR with an N-terminal deletion initiates cell death at the vacuole

Plants evolve nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat receptors (NLRs) to induce immunity. Activated coiled-coil (CC) domain containing NLRs (CNLs) oligomerize and form apparent cation channels promoting calcium influx and cell death, with the alpha-1 helix of the individual CC domains penetrating the plasma membranes. Some CNLs are characterized by putative N-myristoylation and S-acylation sites in their CC domain, potentially mediating permanent membrane association. Whether activated Potentially Membrane Localized NLRs (PMLs) mediate cell death and calcium influx in a similar way is unknown. We uncovered the cell-death function at the vacuole of an atypical but conserved Arabidopsis PML, PML5, which has a significant deletion in its CC