title: Intracellular pH signals in the induction of secondary pathways--the case of Eschscholzia californica.
abstract: Transient peaks of the cytoplasmic pH are essential elements in a number of signal cascades that activate environmental responses or developmental processes in plant cells but little is known about the mechanisms of their generation. In many plant cells, elicitation of the hypersensitive response is preceded by a perturbation of the ionic balance at the plasma membrane including the inhibition of the proton pump and the influx of H+ from the apoplast. A basically different mechanism of cytoplasmic acidification that is fed by vacuolar protons has been discovered in cell suspensions of the California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica). These cells react to a yeast glycoprotein elicitor with the overproduction of benzophenanthridine alkaloids. Low elicitor concentrations trigger the biosynthesis of these phytoalexins without invoking elements of the hypersensitive response. Accumulated data support the existence of a signal path that includes the following steps: Links between the above events that connect them within a distinct signal path are substantiated by the phenotypes of transformed cell lines that either display lowered Galpha levels due to antisense transformation or express Galpha-binding antibodies in the cytoplasm. All of these cell lines lack the elicitor-activation of PLA2 and of vacuolar proton fluxes and show an impaired phytoalexin response to low elicitor concentrations. High elicitor concentrations trigger alkaloid biosynthesis via an increase of jasmonate at a pH-independent signal path.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pharmaceutical Biology and Pharmacology, Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Kurt-Mothes-Str. 3, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany. werner.roos@pharmazie.uni-halle.de
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Roos
authors.forename: Katrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Viehweger
authors.forename: Batsuch
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dordschbal
authors.forename: Brigitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schumann
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Evers
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Steighardt
authors.forename: Wieland
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Schwartze
mesh_terms: D000470:Alkaloids / Q000096:biosynthesis; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000737:chemistry; D031675:Eschscholzia / Q000737:chemistry / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000187:drug effects; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008244:Lysophosphatidylcholines / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D010741:Phospholipases A / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D054467:Phospholipases A2; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000096:biosynthesis; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006180:Proton-Translocating ATPases / Q000378:metabolism; D012717:Sesquiterpenes; D015398:Signal Transduction; D017923:Sodium-Hydrogen Exchangers / Q000502:physiology; D013729:Terpenes; D014617:Vacuoles / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D000094162:Phytoalexins
chemical_list: D000470:Alkaloids; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D008244:Lysophosphatidylcholines; D010936:Plant Extracts; D010940:Plant Proteins; D012717:Sesquiterpenes; D017923:Sodium-Hydrogen Exchangers; D013729:Terpenes; D010741:Phospholipases A; D054467:Phospholipases A2; D006180:Proton-Translocating ATPases; D000094162:Phytoalexins