Effector proteins secreted by plant pathogenic fungi are important artilleries against host immunity, but there is no precedent of such effectors being explored as antifungal targets. Here we demonstrate that MoErs1, a species-specific effector protein secreted by the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, inhibits the function of rice papain-like cysteine protease OsRD21 involved in rice immunity. Disrupting MoErs1–OsRD21 interaction effectively controls rice blast. In addition, we show that FY21001, a structure–function-based designer compound, specifically binds to and inhibits MoErs1 function. FY21001 significantly and effectively controls rice blast in field tests. Our study revealed a novel concept of targeting pathogen-specific effector proteins to prevent and manage crop diseases.

植物病原真菌分泌的效应蛋白是对抗宿主免疫的重要大炮，但尚无此类效应蛋白被探索作为抗真菌靶点的先例。在这里，我们证明 MoErs1（一种由稻瘟病菌Magnaporthe oryzae分泌的物种特异性效应蛋白）可抑制参与水稻免疫的水稻木瓜蛋白酶样半胱氨酸蛋白酶 OsRD21 的功能。破坏 MoErs1-OsRD21 相互作用可有效控制稻瘟病。此外，我们还发现 FY21001（一种基于结构-功能的设计化合物）可以特异性结合并抑制 MoErs1 功能。FY21001在田间试验中显着有效地防治稻瘟病。我们的研究揭示了一种针对病原体特异性效应蛋白来预防和管理作物病害的新概念。