title: Receptor-mediated MAP kinase activation in plant defense.
abstract: Plants mount a complex array of defense reactions in response to attack by pathogens. Initiation of these events depends on perception and signal transduction of elicitors, which are plant-derived or pathogen-derived signals, that give rise to transcriptional activation of defense-related genes as well as to changes in activities of enzymes involved in cell wall reinforcement and oxygen radical formation. An oligopeptide, identified within a 42 kDa glycoprotein elicitor from Phythophthora sojae, activates in parsley cells typical plant defense reactions, enabling researchers to study plant-pathogen interaction at the single cell level. The oligopeptide elicitor was found to be necessary and sufficient to stimulate a complex defense response in parsley cells, comprising H+/Ca2+ influxes, K+/Cl- effluxes, activation of a mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase, an oxidative burst, defense-related gene activation, and phytoalexin formation.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology und Genetics, Wien, Austria.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hirt
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Scheel
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D020935:MAP Kinase Signaling System / Q000502:physiology*; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena