Immune Sensing of Lipopolysaccharide in Plants and Animals: Same but Different

Defense of attempted infection depends on the host's ability to sense invading pathogens and rapidly activate immune responses. Pathogens, in turn, use a repertoire of evasion strategies and virulence factors to circumvent the host's surveillance and defense systems. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a complex glycolipid covering the cell surface of gram-negative bacteria, is a virulence factor shielding bacteria from adverse host environments and is sensed by animal as well as plant immune receptors [1,2].