title: Isolation and characterization of broad-spectrum disease-resistant Arabidopsis mutants.
abstract: To identify Arabidopsis mutants that constitutively express systemic acquired resistance (SAR), we constructed reporter lines expressing the firefly luciferase gene under the control of the SAR-inducible PR-1 promoter (PR-1/luc). After EMS mutagenesis of a well-characterized transgenic line, we screened 250,000 M(2) plants for constitutive expression of the reporter gene in vivo. From a mutant collection containing several hundred putative mutants, we concentrated on 16 mutants lacking spontaneous hypersensitive response (HR) cell death. We mapped 4 of these constitutive immunity (cim) mutants to chromosome arms. Constitutive expression of disease resistance was established by analyzing responses to virulent Peronospora parasitica and Pseudomonas syringae strains, by RNA blot analysis for endogenous marker genes, and by determination of salicylic acid levels in the mutants. The variety of the cim phenotypes allowed us to define distinct steps in both the canonical SAR signaling pathway and a separate pathway for resistance to Erysiphe cichoracearum, active in only a subset of the mutants.
authors.affiliation: Syngenta Biotechnology Institute, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709, USA.
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Maleck
authors.forename: Urs
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Neuenschwander
authors.forename: Rebecca M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Cade
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Dietrich
authors.forename: Jeffery L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Dangl
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Ryals
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000276:immunology; D018745:Genome, Plant; D020559:Monomeric GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D009154:Mutation; D010935:Plant Diseases; D020156:Salicylic Acid / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C086264:SAR protein, Lycopersicon esculentum; D020559:Monomeric GTP-Binding Proteins; D020156:Salicylic Acid