The Defense Metabolite, Allyl Glucosinolate, Modulates Arabidopsis thaliana Biomass Dependent upon the Endogenous Glucosinolate Pathway.
Glucosinolates (GSLs) play an important role in plants as direct mediators of biotic and abiotic stress responses. Recent work is beginning to show that the GSLs can also inducing complex defense and growth networks. However, the physiological significance of these GSL-induced responses and the molecular mechanisms by which GSLs are sensed and/or modulate these responses are not understood. To identify these potential mechanisms within the plant and how they may relate to the endogenous GSLs, we tested the regulatory effect of exogenous allyl GSL application on growth and defense metabolism across sample of Arabidopsis thaliana accessions. We found that application of exogenous allyl GSL had the ability to initiate changes in plant biomass and accumulation of defense metabolites that genetically varied across accessions. This growth effect was related to the allyl GSL side-chain structure. Utilizing this natural variation and mutants in genes within the GSL pathway we could show that the link between allyl GSL and altered growth responses are dependent upon the function of known genes controlling the aliphatic GSL pathway.
Department of Plant Sciences, University of CaliforniaDavis, CA, USA; Group of Genetics, Breeding and Biochemistry of Brassicas, Department of Plant Genetics, Misión Biológica de Galicia, Spanish Council for Scientific ResearchPontevedra, Spain.
Marta
M
Francisco
Department of Plant Sciences, University of California Davis, CA, USA.
Bindu
B
Joseph
Department of Plant Sciences, University of California Davis, CA, USA.
Hart
H
Caligagan
Department of Plant Sciences, University of California Davis, CA, USA.
Baohua
B
Li
Department of Plant Sciences, University of California Davis, CA, USA.
Jason A
JA
Corwin
Department of Plant Sciences, University of California Davis, CA, USA.
Catherine
C
Lin
Department of Plant Sciences, University of California Davis, CA, USA.
Rachel
R
Kerwin
DynaMo Center of Excellence, Copenhagen Plant Science Centre, University of Copenhagen Frederiksberg, Denmark.
Meike
M
Burow
Department of Plant Sciences, University of CaliforniaDavis, CA, USA; DynaMo Center of Excellence, Copenhagen Plant Science Centre, University of CopenhagenFrederiksberg, Denmark.
Daniel J
DJ
Kliebenstein
Arabidopsis; GSL-induced responses; allyl GSL; defense metabolism; plant growth