title: Can metals defend plants against biotic stress?
abstract: Farmers have used metal compounds in phytosanitary treatments for more than a century; however, it has recently been suggested that plants absorb high concentrations of metals from the substrate as a self-defense mechanism against pathogens and herbivores. This metal defense hypothesis is among the most attractive proposals for the 'reason to be' of metal hyperaccumulator species. On a molecular basis, metal defense against biotic stress seems to imply common and/or complementary pathways of signal perception, signal transduction and metabolism. This does not imply a broad band of co-resistance to different stress types but reflects a continuous cross talk during the coevolution of plants, pathogens and herbivores competing in an environment where efficient metal ion acquisition and ion homeostasis are essential for survival.
authors.affiliation: Plant Physiology Laboratory, Faculty of Biosciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, E-08193 Bellaterra, Spain. charlotte.poschenrieder@uab.es
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Poschenrieder
authors.forename: Roser
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tolrà
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Barceló
mesh_terms: D008670:Metals / Q000378:metabolism*; D010935:Plant Diseases; D010944:Plants / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000469:parasitology; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D008670:Metals