Genetic and biochemical dissection of signaling pathways regulating plant pathogen defense has revealed remarkable similarities with the innate immune system of mammals and Drosophila. Numerous plant proteins resembling eukaryotic receptors have been implicated in the perception of pathogen-derived signal molecules. Receptor-mediated changes in levels of free calcium in the cytoplasm and production of reactive oxygen species and nitric oxide constitute early events generally observed in plant–pathogen interactions. Positive and negative regulation of plant pathogen defense responses has been attributed to mitogen-activated protein kinase cascades. In addition, salicylic acid, jasmonic acid and ethylene are components of signaling networks that provide the molecular basis for specificity of plant defense responses. This article reviews recent advances in our understanding of early signaling events involved in the establishment of plant disease resistance.

In-vivo imaging of transgenic tobacco plants (Nicotiana tobacum L.) expressing firefly luciferase under the control of the Arabidopsis phenylalanine ammonia-lyase 1 (PAL1)-promoter showed that luciferase-catalyzed light emission began immediately after the substrate luciferin was sprayed onto the leaves and reached a plateau phase after approximately 60 min. This luminescence could easily be detected for up to 24 h after luciferin application although the light intensity declined continuously during this period. A strong and rapid increase in light emission was observed within the first minutes after wounding of luciferin-sprayed leaves. However, these data did not correlate with luciferase activity analysed by an in-vitro enzyme assay. In addition, Arabidopsis plants expressing luciferase under the control of the constitutive 35S-promoter showed similar wound-induced light emission. In experiments in which only parts of the leaves were sprayed with luciferin solutions, it was shown that increased uptake of luciferin at the wound site and its transport through vascular tissue were the main reasons for the rapid burst of light produced by preformed luciferase activity. These data demonstrate that there are barriers that restrict luciferin entry into adult plants, and that luciferin availability can be a limiting factor in non-invasive luciferase assays.

In the respirofermentative yeast Kluyveromyces lactis, only a single genetic locus encodes glucose transporters that can support fermentative growth. This locus is polymorphic in wild-type isolates carrying either KHT1and KHT2, two tandemly arranged HXT-like genes, or RAG1, a low-affinity transporter gene that arose by recombination between KHT1 andKHT2. Here we show that KHT1 is a glucose-induced gene encoding a low-affinity transporter very similar to Rag1p. Kht2p has a lower Km (3.7 mM) and a more complex regulation. Transcription is high in the absence of glucose, further induced by low glucose concentrations, and repressed at higher glucose concentrations. The response ofKHT1 and KHT2 gene regulation to high but not to low concentrations of glucose depends on glucose transport. The function of either Kht1p or Kht2p is sufficient to mediate the characteristic response to high glucose, which is impaired in akht1 kht2 deletion mutant. Thus, the KHTgenes are subject to mutual feedback regulation. Moreover, glucose repression of the endogenous β-galactosidase (LAC4) promoter and glucose induction of pyruvate decarboxylase were abolished in the kht1 kht2 mutant. These phenotypes could be partially restored by HXT gene family members fromSaccharomyces cerevisiae. The results indicate that the specific responses to high but not to low glucose concentrations require a high rate of glucose uptake.

Inheritance of three major genes involved in synthesis of aliphatic glucosinolates (GSL) was followed in segregating populations of Brassica oleracea L. generated from three crosses: broccoli × cauliflower, collard × broccoli, and collard × cauliflower. Two of these genes, GSL-PRO and GSL-ELONG, regulate sidechain length. The action of the former results in three-carbon GSL, whereas action of the latter produces four-carbon GSL. We determined that these two genes act and segregate independently from each other in B. oleracea. The double recessive genotype produces only trace amounts of aliphatic GSL. The third gene, GSL-ALK controls sidechain desaturation and, as it has been observed in Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh., we found that this gene cosegregates with a fourth gene, GSL-OH, that is responsible for sidechain hydroxylation. Elucidation of the inheritance of major genes controlling biosynthesis of GSL will allow for manipulation of these genes and facilitate development of lines with specific GSL profiles. This capability will be important for improvement of Brassica breeding lines with high content of desirable GSL, like glucoraphanin, a demonstrated precursor of anticarcinogenic compounds. Additionally, this work is the first step towards cloning the major genes of the aliphatic GSL pathway, and to use these clones in transformation strategies for further crop enhancement.

We have studied the subcellular localization of the acid S-like ribonuclease (RNase) LX in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) cells using a combination of biochemical and immunological methods. It was found that the enzyme, unexpectedly excluded from highly purified vacuoles, accumulates in the endoplasmic reticulum. The evidence that RNase LX is a resident of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is supported by an independent approach showing that the C-terminal peptide HDEF of RNase LX acts as an alternative ER retention signal in plants. For functional testing, the cellular distribution of chimeric protein constructs based on a marker protein, Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa) 2S albumin, was analyzed immunochemically in transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plants. Here, we report that the peptide motif is necessary and sufficient to accumulate 2S albumin constructs of both vacuolar and extracellular final destinations in the ER. We have shown immunochemically that RNase LX is specifically expressed during endosperm mobilization and leaf and flower senescence. Using immunofluorescence, RNase LX protein was detected in immature tracheary elements, suggesting a function in xylem differentiation. These results support a physiological function of RNase LX in selective cell death processes that are also thought to involve programmed cell death. It is assumed that RNase LX accumulates in an ER-derived compartment and is released by membrane disruption into the cytoplasma of those cells that are intended to undergo autolysis. These processes are accompanied by degradation of cellular components supporting a metabolic recycling function of the intracellular RNase LX.

The hrp gene clusters of plant pathogenic bacteria control pathogenicity on their host plants and ability to elicit the hypersensitive reaction in resistant plants. Some hrp gene products constitute elements of the type III secretion system, by which effector proteins are exported and delivered into plant cells. Here, we show that the hrpZ gene product from the bean halo-blight pathogen, Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola (HrpZPsph), is secreted in an hrp-dependent manner in P. syringae pv. phaseolicola and exported by the type III secretion system in the mammalian pathogen Yersinia enterocolitica. HrpZPsph was found to associate stably with liposomes and synthetic bilayer membranes. Under symmetric ionic conditions, addition of 2 nM of purified recombinant HrpZPsph to the cis compartment of planar lipid bilayers provoked an ion current with a large unitary conductivity of 207 pS. HrpZPsph-related proteins from P. syringae pv. tomato or syringae triggered ion currents similar to those stimulated by HrpZPsph. The HrpZPsph-mediated ion-conducting pore was permeable for cations but did not mediate fluxes of Cl−. Such pore-forming activity may allow nutrient release and/or delivery of virulence factors during bacterial colonization of host plants.

Harpin from the bean halo-blight pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv phaseolicola (harpinPsph) elicits the hypersensitive response and the accumulation of pathogenesis-related gene transcripts in the nonhost plant tobacco. Here, we report the characterization of a nonproteinaceous binding site for harpinPsph in tobacco plasma membranes, which is assumed to mediate the activation of plant defense responses in a receptor-like manner. Binding of 125I-harpinPsph to tobacco microsomal membranes (dissociation constant = 425 nM) and protoplasts (dissociation constant = 380 nM) was specific, reversible, and saturable. A close correlation was found between the abilities of harpinPsph fragments to elicit the transcript accumulation of the pathogenesis-related tobacco gene HIN1 and to compete for binding of 125I-harpinPsph to its binding site. Another elicitor of the hypersensitive response and HIN1 induction in tobacco, the Phytophthora megasperma–derived β-elicitin β-megaspermin, failed to bind to the putative harpinPsph receptor. In contrast to activation by β-megaspermin, harpinPsph-induced activation of the 48-kD salicylic acid–responsive mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and HIN1 transcript accumulation were independent of extracellular calcium. Moreover, use of the MAPK kinase inhibitor U0126 revealed that MAPK activity was essential for pathogenesis-related gene expression in harpinPsph-treated tobacco cells. Thus, a receptor-mediated MAPK-dependent signaling pathway may mediate the activation of plant defense responses induced by harpinPsph.

In light of the fact that the main betaxanthin (miraxanthin V) and the major betacyanin (2-descarboxy-betanidin) in hairy root cultures of yellow beet (Beta vulgaris L.) are both dopamine-derived, the occurrence of similar structures for the minor betacyanins was also suggested. By HPLC comparison with the betacyanins obtained by dopamine administration to beet seedlings, enzymatic hydrolysis, LCMS and 1H NMR analyses, the minor betacyanins from hairy roots were identified as 2-descarboxy-betanin and its 6′-O-malonyl derivative. A short-term dopamine administration experiment with fodder beet seedlings revealed that the condensation step between 2-descarboxy-cyclo-Dopa and betalamic acid is the decisive reaction, followed by glucosylation and acylation. From these data a pathway for the biosynthesis of dopamine-derived betalains is proposed. Furthermore, the occurrence of these compounds in various cell and hairy root cultures as well as beet plants (Fodder and Garden Beet Group) is shown.

Plants are exposed to a wide range of toxic and bioactive low-molecular-weight molecules from both exogenous and endogenous sources. Glycosylation is one of the primary sedative mechanisms that plants utilise in order to maintain metabolic homeostasis. Recently, a range of glycosyltransferases has been characterized in detail with regard to substrate specificity. The next step in increasing our understanding of the biology of glycosylation will require information regarding the exact role of individual glycosyltransferases in planta, as well as an insight into their potential involvement in metabolon-complexes. Hopefully, this will answer how a large number of glycosyltransferases with broad, rather than narrow, substrate specificity can be constrained in order to avoid interfering with other pathways of primary and secondary metabolism. These and other topics are discussed.

We analysed pathogenesis-related expression of genes, that are assumed to be involved in ubiquitous plant defence mechanisms like the oxidative burst, the hypersensitive cell death reaction (HR) and formation of localized cell wall appositions (papillae). We carried out comparative northern blot and RT-PCR studies with near-isogenic barley (Hordeum vulgareL. cv. Pallas) lines (NILs) resistant or susceptible to the powdery mildew fungus race A6 (Blumeria graminis f.sp. hordei, BghA6). The NILs carrying one of the R-genes Mla12, Mlg or the mlo mutant allele mlo5 arrest fungal development by cell wall appositions (mlo5) or a HR (Mla12) or both (Mlg). Expression of an aspartate protease gene, an ascorbate peroxidase gene and a newly identified cysteine protease gene was up-regulated after inoculation with BghA6, whereas the constitutive expression-level of a BAS gene, that encodes an alkyl hydroperoxide reductase, was reduced. Expression of a newly identified barley homologue of a mammalian cell death regulator, Bax inhibitor 1, was enhanced after powdery mildew inoculation. An oxalate oxidase-like protein was stronger expressed in NILS expressing penetration resistance. A so far unknown gene that putatively encodes the large subunit of a superoxide generating NADPH oxidases was constitutively expressed in barley leaves and its expression pattern did not change after inoculation. A newly identified barley Rac1 homologue was expressed constitutively, such as the functionally linked NADPH oxidase gene. Gene expression patterns are discussed with regard to defence mechanisms and signal transduction.