Metabolite-based Defense Mechanisms

Components of the vesicle trafficking machinery are central to the immune response in plants. The role of vesicle trafficking during pre-invasive penetration resistance has been well documented. However, emerging evidence also implicates vesicle trafficking in early immune signaling. Here we report that Exo70B1, a subunit of the exocyst complex which mediates early tethering during exocytosis is involved in resistance. We show that exo70B1 mutants display pathogen-specific immuno-compromised phenotypes. We also show that exo70B1 mutants display lesion-mimic cell death, which in combination with the reduced responsiveness to pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) results in complex immunity-related phenotypes.

Vesicle fusion processes in plants are important for both development and stress responses. Transgenic potato plants with reduced expression of SYNTAXIN-RELATED1 (StSYR1), a gene encoding the potato homolog of Arabidopsis PENETRATION1 (AtPEN1), display spontaneous necrosis and chlorosis at later stages of development. In accordance with this developmental defect, tuber number, weight and overall yield are significantly reduced in StSYR1-RNAi lines. Enhanced resistance of StSYR1-RNAi plants to Phytophthora infestans, the causal agent of late blight disease of potato, correlates with enhanced levels of salicylic acid, whereas levels of 12-oxophytodienoic acid and jasmonic acid are unaltered. Cultured cells of StSYR1-RNAi lines secrete at least two compounds which are not detectable in the supernatant of control cells, suggesting an involvement of StSYR1 in secretion processes to the apoplast.