Protein kinases related to the family of mitogen-activated kinases (MAPKs) have been established as signal transduction components in a variety of processes in plants. For Arabidopsis thaliana, however, although one of the genetically best studied plant species, biochemical data on activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases are lacking. A. thaliana MAPK 6 (AtMPK6) is the Arabidopsis orthol...

A combination of bioinformatic tools, high-throughput gene expression profiles, and the use of synthetic promoters is a powerful approach to discover and evaluate novel cis-sequences in response to specific stimuli. With Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) microarray data annotated to the PathoPlant database, 732 different queries with a focus on fungal and oomycete pathogens were performed, lea...

Although phospholipase C hydrolysis of polyphosphoinositides constitutes one of the major second messenger pathways in animal cells, its participation in signal transduction in higher plants has not been established. To determine whether activation of phosphatidylinositol-directed phospholipase C might be involved in signaling the elicitor-induced oxidative burst in plants, suspension-cultured ...

A tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv Samsun NN) cDNA clone coding the enzyme phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) was isolated from a cDNA library made from polyadenylated RNA purified from tobacco mosaic virus (TMV)-infected leaves. Southern analysis indicated that, in tobacco, PAL is encoded by a small family of two to four unclustered genes. Northern analysis showed that PAL genes are weakly expr...

Oat phytoalexins, avenanthramides, occur as constitutive components in seeds. The amounts of each avenanthramide were analyzed. The composition of avenanthramides in dry seeds was different from that in elicitor-treated leaves. In seeds, avenanthramide C was most abundant with an amount two times larger than that of avenanthramide A or B. On the other hand, avenanthramide A was the major compon...

Slow progress has been made in discovering plant genes governing the interaction of plant pathogens and their hosts using classical genetic approaches. Extensive studies employing DNA microarray techniques to identify global changes in gene expression during pathogen-host interaction have greatly enhanced discovery of genetic components regulating the plant defence response to pathogen attack. ...

In China, Monascus spp., a traditional fungus used in fermentation, is used as a natural food additive. Monascus spp. can produce a secondary metabolite, monacolin K namely, which is proven to be a cholesterol-lowering and hypotensive agent. Hence, recently, many researchers have begun focusing on how to increase the production of monacolin K by Monascus purpureus. In the present study, we inve...

Recognition of molecular patterns characteristic of microbes or altered-self leads to immune activation in multicellular eukaryotes. In Arabidopsis thaliana, the leucine-rich-repeat receptor kinases FLAGELLIN-SENSING2 (FLS2) and EF-TU RECEPTOR (EFR) recognize bacterial flagellin and elongation factor EF-Tu (and their elicitor-active epitopes flg22 and elf18), respectively. Likewise, PEP1 RECEPT...

The rapid and effective activation of disease resistance responses is essential for plant defense against pathogen attack. These responses are initiated when pathogen-derived molecules (elicitors) are recognized by the host. We have developed a strategy for creating novel disease resistance traits whereby transgenic plants respond to infection by a virulent pathogen with the production of an el...

Participation of phospholipase A (PLase A) in plant signal transduction has been documented for auxin stimulation of growth but not for elicitation of any plant defense response. In this paper, we report two independent assays for monitoring PLase A induction in plant cells and have used these assays to evaluate whether transduction of defense-related signals might require PLase A activation. O...