The paper:
Q.H. Shen et al., "Nuclear activity of MLA immune receptors links isolate-specific and basal disease–resistance responses," Science, 315:1098–1103, 2007. (Cited in 76 papers)
The finding:
After staining the nuclei of barley cells, Paul Schulze-Lefert and his colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne discovered something unexpected—trace amounts of the cytoplasmic immune protein, mildew A receptor (MLA). They thought it was an artifact, but when they forced all of the MLA out of the nucleus by attaching a nuclear export signal to the protein, the plant was no longer able to stave off infection, indicating that MLA must be in the nucleus in order to function.
The surprise:
"Everyone in the field presumed that these proteins acted in the cytoplasm" rather than the nucleus, says Shulze-Lefert. He suspects that MLA may be "shuttling" between the cytoplasm and the nucleus to instigate ...
