In potato plants induced for systemic resistance by infiltration with Pseudomonas syringae pv. maculicola, 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid (OPDA) accumulated in infiltrated leaves as well as in non-treated leaves of infected plants. In contrast, jasmonic acid (JA) levels increased only in infiltrated leaves, suggesting that the biosynthetic precursor of JA, OPDA, might play a role in systemic acquired resistance.

Plants respond to pathogen attack with a multicomponent defense response. Synthesis of oxylipins via the lipoxygenase (LOX) pathway appears to be an important factor for establishment of resistance in a number of pathosystems. In potato cells, pathogen-derived elicitors preferentially stimulate the 9-LOX-dependent metabolism of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Here we show by oxylipin profiling that potato plants react to pathogen infection with increases in the amounts of the 9-LOX-derived 9,10,11- and 9,12,13-trihydroxy derivatives of linolenic acid (LnA), the divinyl ethers colnelenic acid (CnA) and colneleic acid (CA) as well as 9-hydroxy linolenic acid. Accumulation of these compounds is faster and more pronounced during the interaction of potato with the phytopathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv. maculicola, which does not lead to disease, compared to the infection of potato with Phytophthora infestans, the causal agent of late blight disease. Jasmonic acid (JA), a 13-LOX-derived oxylipin, accumulates in potato leaves after infiltration with P. syringae pv. maculicola, but not after infection with P. infestans.

Lipid peroxidation is common to all biological systems, both appearing in developmentally and environmentally regulated processes of plants. The hydroperoxy polyunsaturated fatty acids, synthesized by the action of various highly specialized forms of lipoxygenases, are substrates of at least seven different enzyme families. Signaling compounds such as jasmonates, antimicrobial and antifungal compounds such as leaf aldehydes or divinyl ethers, and a plant-specific blend of volatiles including leaf alcohols are among the numerous products. Cloning of many lipoxygenases and other key enzymes within the lipoxygenase pathway, as well as analyses by reverse genetic and metabolic profiling, revealed new reactions and the first hints of enzyme mechanisms, multiple functions, and regulation. These aspects are reviewed with respect to activation of this pathway as an initial step in the interaction of plants with pathogens, insects, or abiotic stress and at distinct stages of development.

In addition to a previously characterized 13-lipoxygenase of 100 kDa encoded by LOX2:Hv:1 [Vörös et al., Eur. J. Biochem. 251 (1998), 36 44], two fulllength cDNAs (LOX2:Hv:2, LOX2:Hv:3) were isolated from barley leaves (Hordeum vulgare cv. Salome) and characterized. Both of them encode 13-lipoxygenases with putative target sequences for chloroplast import. Immunogold labeling revealed preferential, if not exclusive, localization of lipoxygenase proteins in the stroma. The ultrastructure of the chloroplast was dramatically altered following methyl jasmonate treatment, indicated by a loss of thylakoid membranes, decreased number of stacks and appearance of numerous osmiophilic globuli. The three 13-lipoxygenases are differentially expressed during treatment with jasmonate, salicylate, glucose or sorbitol. Metabolite profiling of free linolenic acid and free linoleic acid, the substrates of lipoxygenases, in water floated or jasmonatetreated leaves revealed preferential accumulation of linolenic acid. Remarkable amounts of free 9- as well as 13-hydroperoxy linolenic acid were found. In addition, metabolites of these hydroperoxides, such as the hydroxy derivatives and the respective aldehydes, appeared following methyl jasmonate treatment. These findings were substantiated by metabolite profiling of isolated chloroplasts, and subfractions including the envelope, the stroma and the thylakoids, indicating a preferential occurrence of lipoxygenasederived products in the stroma and in the envelope. These data revealed jasmonateinduced activation of the hydroperoxide lyase and reductase branch within the lipoxygenase pathway and suggest differential activity of the three 13-lipoxygenases under different stress conditions.

A particular isoform of lipoxygenase (LOX) localized on lipid bodies was shown by earlier investigations to play a role in initiating the mobilization of triacylglycerols during seed germination. Here, further physiological functions of LOXs within whole cotyledons of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) were analyzed by measuring the endogenous amounts of LOX-derived products. The lipid-body LOX-derived esterified (13S)-hydroperoxy linoleic acid was the dominant metabolite of the LOX pathway in this tissue. It accumulated to about 14 µmol/g fresh weight, which represented about 6% of the total amount of linoleic acid in cotyledons. This LOX product was not only reduced to its hydroxy derivative, leading to degradation by β-oxidation, but alternatively it was metabolized by fatty acid hydroperoxide lyase leading to formation of hexanal as well. Furthermore, the activities of LOX forms metabolizing linolenic acid were detected by measuring the accumulation of volatile aldehydes and the allene oxide synthase-derived metabolite jasmonic acid. The first evidence is presented for an involvement of a lipid-body LOX form in the production of volatile aldehydes.