title: Salicylic acid activates DNA damage responses to potentiate plant immunity.
abstract: DNA damage is normally detrimental to living organisms. Here we show that it can also serve as a signal to promote immune responses in plants. We found that the plant immune hormone salicylic acid (SA) can trigger DNA damage in the absence of a genotoxic agent. The DNA damage sensor proteins RAD17 and ATR are required for effective immune responses. These sensor proteins are negatively regulated by a key immune regulator, SNI1 (suppressor of npr1-1, inducible 1), which we found is a subunit of the structural maintenance of chromosome (SMC) 5/6 complex required for controlling DNA damage. Elevated DNA damage caused by the sni1 mutation or treatment with a DNA-damaging agent markedly enhances SA-mediated defense gene expression. Our study suggests that activation of DNA damage responses is an intrinsic component of the plant immune responses.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute-Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Department of Biology, P.O. Box 90338, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
authors.forename: Shunping
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Marqués
authors.forename: Rajinikanth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mohan
authors.forename: Abdelaty
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saleh
authors.forename: Wendy E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Durrant
authors.forename: Junqi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Xinnian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Dong
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D064007:Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D004249:DNA Damage; D004260:DNA Repair; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D008958:Models, Molecular; D046912:Multiprotein Complexes / Q000378:metabolism; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators / Q000378:metabolism*; D057865:Plant Immunity; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D021122:Protein Subunits / Q000378:metabolism; D020156:Salicylic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D040681:Structural Homology, Protein
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D018744:DNA, Plant; D046912:Multiprotein Complexes; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators; D021122:Protein Subunits; C501393:RAD17 protein, Arabidopsis; C121026:SNI1 protein, Arabidopsis; C576892:ATR protein, Arabidopsis; D064007:Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins; D020156:Salicylic Acid