Jasmonates as Signals in the Wound Response

Plant responses to wounding and herbivore attack are orchestrated by complex signaling pathways that link the production of chemical and physical signals at the wound site to activation of gene expression and other cellular processes. The systemic nature of many wound-induced responses provides an attractive opportunity to study intercellular signaling pathways that operate over long distances within the plant. Genetic dissection of the wound-response pathway in tomato indicates that (1) systemin and its precursor protein, prosystemin, are upstream components of an intercellular signaling cascade that requires the biosynthesis and action of jasmonic acid (JA); and (2) physiological processes regulated by this pathway confer host resistance to a broad spectrum of plant invaders. Grafting experiments conducted with mutants defective in systemic wound signaling indicate that systemin functions at or near the wound site to trigger the production of JA, which in turn acts non-cell autonomously to promote systemic defense responses. The location of JA biosynthetic enzymes within the companion cell-sieve element complex of vascular bundles, together with the accumulation of JA in vascular tissues, support a role for jasmonates as phloem-mobile signals. The recent discovery of enzymes involved in the metabolism of JA to volatile methyl-JA and bioactive JA-amino acid conjugates has potential implications for the mechanism by which JA promotes wound signaling. Species-specific differences in the mechanism of wound signaling appear to reflect the way in which the wound-induced jasmonate pathway is regulated by other signals including systemin, cell wall-derived oligosaccharides, ethylene, and insect-derived elicitors. Adding to the complexity of the wound-induced jasmonate cascade are wound-signaling pathways that operate independently of JA.     

Signal transmission in the plant immune response

Genetic and biochemical dissection of signaling pathways regulating plant pathogen defense has revealed remarkable similarities with the innate immune system of mammals and Drosophila. Numerous plant proteins resembling eukaryotic receptors have been implicated in the perception of pathogen-derived signal molecules. Receptor-mediated changes in levels of free calcium in the cytoplasm and production of reactive oxygen species and nitric oxide constitute early events generally observed in plant-pathogen interactions. Positive and negative regulation of plant pathogen defense responses has been attributed to mitogen-activated protein kinase cascades. In addition, salicylic acid, jasmonic acid and ethylene are components of signaling networks that provide the molecular basis for specificity of plant defense responses. This article reviews recent advances in our understanding of early signaling events involved in the establishment of plant disease resistance.     

The role of phytohormone signaling in ozone-induced cell death in plants

Ozone is the main photochemical oxidant that causes leaf damage in many plant species, and can thereby significantly decrease the productivity of crops and forests. When ozone is incorporated into plants, it produces reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as superoxide radicals and hydrogen peroxide. These ROS induce the synthesis of several plant hormones, such as ethylene, salicylic acid, and jasmonic acid. These phytohormones are required for plant growth, development, and defense responses, and regulate the extent of leaf injury in ozone-fumigated plants. Recently, responses to ozone have been studied using genetically modified plants and mutants with altered hormone levels or signaling pathways. These researches have clarified the roles of phytohormones and the complexity of their signaling pathways. The present paper reviews the biosynthesis of the phytohormones ethylene, salicylic acid, and jasmonic acid, their roles in plant responses to ozone, and multiple interactions between these phytohormones in ozone-exposed plants.Key words: cross-talk, ethylene, jasmonic acid, ozone, phytohormones, programmed cell death, salicylic acid, signaling pathways     

SA, JA, ethylene, and disease resistance in plants

Exciting advances have been made during the past year: isolating mutants affecting plant disease resistance, cloning genes involved in the regulation of various defense responses, and characterizing novel defense signaling pathways. Recent studies have demonstrated that jasmonic acid and ethylene are important for the induction of nonspecific disease resistance through signaling pathways that are distinct from the classical systemic acquired resistance response pathway regulated by salicylic acid.     

韧皮部取食昆虫诱导的植物防御反应

刺吸式昆虫与寄主植物之间具有特殊的生物互作关系。本文对刺吸式昆虫取食韧皮部诱导的植物防御反应类型、 防御物质变化、 信号途径以及植物反应转录组学研究等方面进行综述。韧皮部取食昆虫取食诱导的植物防御反应机制主要包括： (1)改变自身的营养状况; (2)产生有毒的次生化合物; (3)产生防御蛋白。防御反应与植物水杨酸、 茉莉酸、 乙烯等信号分子密切相关。研究表明, 刺吸式昆虫取食诱导的植物防御反应主要引发以水杨酸为主的信号途径, 但相关分子互作机制还有待明确。日益丰富的基因组资源和不断发展的分子生物学技术为揭示植物防御反应中信号分子的作用机制、 找出植物内生抗性的特异因子以及阐明诱导防御机制奠定了基础。了解刺吸式昆虫取食诱导的植物防御反应, 为深入理解植物-昆虫间协同进化关系提供了依据, 为害虫治理和抗虫植物的培育提供了新的思路。     

Auxins in defense strategies

Plant hormones operate in a very complex network where they regulate and control different vital mechanisms. They coordinate growth, development and defense via signaling involving different interactions of molecules. Activation of molecules responsible for regulation of plant immunity is mainly provided by salicylic and jasmonic acid signaling pathways. Similar to the signaling of these defense-associated plant hormones, auxin can also affect resistance to different pathogen groups and disease is manifested indirectly through the effects on growth. The various ways in which auxin regulate growth and plant development and might be closely connected to plant defense, are discussed in this review.     

A comparison of two Nicotiana attenuata accessions reveals large differences in signaling induced by oral secretions of the specialist herbivore Manduca sexta

Genetic variation within and among populations provides the raw material for evolution. Although many studies describe inter- and intraspecific variation of defensive metabolites, little is known about variation among plant populations within early signaling responses elicited by herbivory or by herbivore oral secretions (OS) introduced into wounds during feeding. In this study, we compare the OS-elicited early responses as well as the antiherbivore defensive metabolites in two accessions of the wild tobacco Nicotiana attenuata and show that, compared with an accession collected from Utah, an Arizona accession has lower herbivore-elicited activity of the salicylic acid-induced protein kinase, an important mitogen-activated protein kinase involved in herbivore resistance. These differences in salicylic acid-induced protein kinase activity were associated with substantially different levels of OS-elicited jasmonic acid, jasmonic acid-isoleucine conjugate, and ethylene bursts. Gene expression level polymorphism (ELP) determines phenotypic variation among populations, and we found the two accessions to have significantly different ELPs in the genes involved in early signaling responses to herbivory. In addition, we found differences between the Utah and the Arizona accessions in the concentrations of several secondary metabolites that contribute to N. attenuata's direct and indirect defenses. This study demonstrates significant natural variation in regulatory elements that mediate plant responses to herbivore attack, highlighting the role of ELP in producing a diversity of plant defense phenotypes.     

Cross talk between signaling pathways in pathogen defense

Plant defense in response to microbial attack is regulated through a complex network of signaling pathways that involve three signaling molecules: salicylic acid (SA), jasmonic acid (JA) and ethylene. The SA and JA signaling pathways are mutually antagonistic. This regulatory cross talk may have evolved to allow plants to fine-tune the induction of their defenses in response to different plant pathogens.     

Riboflavin-induced Priming for Pathogen Defense in Arabidopsis thaliana

Riboflavin (vitamin B2) participates in a variety of redox processes that affect plant defense responses. Previously we have shown that riboflavin induces pathogen resistance in the absence of hypersensitive cell death (HCD) in plants. Herein, we report that riboflavin induces priming of defense responses in Arabidopsis thaliana toward infection by virulent Pseudomonas syringae pv. Tomato DC3000 (Pst). Induced resistance was mechanistically connected with the expression of defense response genes and cellular defense events, including H2O2 burst, HCD, and callose deposition in the plant. Riboflavin treatment and inoculation of plants with Pst were neither active but both synergized to induce defense responses. The priming process needed NPR1 (essential regulator of systemic acquired resistance) and maintenance of H2O2 burst but was independent of salicylic acid, jasmonic acid, ethylene, and abscisic acid. Our results suggest that the role of riboflavin in priming defenses is subject to a signaling process distinct from the known pathways of hormone signal transduction.     

Interacting signal pathways control defense gene expression in Arabidopsis in response to cell wall-degrading enzymes from Erwinia carotovora

We have characterized the role of salicylic acid (SA)-independent defense signaling in Arabidopsis thaliana in response to the plant pathogen Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora. Use of pathway-specific target genes as well as signal mutants allowed us to elucidate the role and interactions of ethylene, jasmonic acid (JA), and SA signal pathways in this response. Gene expression studies suggest a central role for both ethylene and JA pathways in the regulation of defense gene expression triggered by the pathogen or by plant cell wall-degrading enzymes (CF) secreted by the pathogen. Our results suggest that ethylene and JA act in concert in this regulation. In addition, CF triggers another, strictly JA-mediated response inhibited by ethylene and SA. SA does not appear to have a major role in activating defense gene expression in response to CF. However, SA may have a dual role in controlling CF-induced gene expression, by enhancing the expression of genes synergistically induced by ethylene and JA and repressing genes induced by JA alone.     

Jasmonate and salicylate as global signals for defense gene expression

Remarkably, only a few low molecular mass signals, including jasmonic acid, ethylene and salicylic acid, upregulate the expression of scores of defense-related genes. Using these regulators, the plant fine-tunes its defense gene expression against aggressors which, in some cases, may be able to disrupt or amplify plant defense signal pathways to their own ends.     

植物细胞活性氧种类、代谢及其信号转导

越来越明显的证据表明,植物体十分活跃的产生着活性氧并将之作为信号分子、进而控制着诸如细胞程序性死亡、非生物胁迫响应、病原体防御和系统信号等生命过程,而不仅是传统意义上的活性氧是有氧代谢的附产物。日益增多的证据显示,由脱落酸、水杨酸、茉莉酸与乙烯以及活性氧所调节的激素信号途径,在生物和非生物胁迫信号的“交谈”中起重要作用。活性氧最初被认为是动物吞噬细胞在宿主防御反应时所释放的附产物,现在的研究清楚的表明,活性氧在动物和植物细胞信号途径中均起作用。活性氧可以诱导细胞程序性死亡或坏死、可以诱导或抑制许多基因的表达,也可以激活上述级联信号。近来生物化学与遗传学研究证实过氧化氢是介导植物生物胁迫与非生物胁迫的信号分子,过氧化氢的合成与作用似乎与一氧化氮有关系。过氧化氢所调节的下游信号包括钙“动员”、蛋白磷酸化和基因表达等。     

Differential induction of tobacco MAP kinases by the defense signals nitric oxide, salicylic acid, ethylene, and jasmonic acid

In tobacco, two mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases, designated salicylic acid (SA)-induced protein kinase (SIPK) and wounding-induced protein kinase (WIPK) are activated in a disease resistance-specific manner following pathogen infection or elicitor treatment. To investigate whether nitric oxide (NO), SA, ethylene, or jasmonic acid (JA) are involved in this phenomenon, the ability of these defense signals to activate these kinases was assessed. Both NO and SA activated SIPK; however, they did not activate WIPK. Additional analyses with transgenic NahG tobacco revealed that SA is required for the NO-mediated induction of SIPK. Neither JA nor ethylene activated SIPK or WIPK. Thus, SIPK may function downstream of SA in the NO signaling pathway for defense responses, while the signals responsible for resistance-associated WIPK activation have yet to be determined.     

Low levels of polymorphism in genes that control the activation of defense response in Arabidopsis thaliana

Plants use signaling pathways involving salicylic acid, jasmonic acid, and ethylene to defend against pathogen and herbivore attack. Many defense response genes involved in these signaling pathways have been characterized, but little is known about the selective pressures they experience. A representative set of 27 defense response genes were resequenced in a worldwide set of 96 Arabidopsis thaliana accessions, and patterns of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were evaluated in relation to an empirical distribution of SNPs generated from either 876 fragments or 236 fragments with >400 bp coding sequence (this latter set was selected for comparisons with coding sequences) distributed across the genomes of the same set of accessions. Defense response genes have significantly fewer protein variants, display lower levels of nonsynonymous nucleotide diversity, and have fewer nonsynonymous segregating sites. The majority of defense response genes appear to be experiencing purifying selection, given the dearth of protein variation in this set of genes. Eight genes exhibit some evidence of partial selective sweeps or transient balancing selection. These results therefore provide a strong contrast to the high levels of balancing selection exhibited by genes at the upstream positions in these signaling pathways.     

The Myriad Plant Responses to Herbivores

Abstract Plant responses to herbivores are complex. Genes activated on herbivore attack are strongly correlated with the mode of herbivore feeding and the degree of tissue damage at the feeding site. Phloem-feeding whiteflies and aphids that produce little injury to plant foliage are perceived as pathogens and activate the salicylic acid (SA)-dependent and jasmonic acid (JA)/ethylene-dependent signaling pathways. Differential expression of plant genes in response to closely related insect species suggest that some elicitors generated by phloem-feeding insects are species-specific and are dependent on the herbivore's developmental stage. Other elicitors for defense-gene activation are likely to be more ubiquitous. Analogies to the pathogen-incompatible reactions are found. Chewing insects such as caterpillars and beetles and cell-content feeders such as mites and thrips cause more extensive tissue damage and activate wound-signaling pathways. Herbivore feeding is not equivalent to mechanical wounding. Wound responses are a part of the induced responses that accompany herbivore feeding. Herbivores induce direct defenses that interfere with herbivore feeding, growth and development, fecundity, and fertility. In addition, herbivores induce an array of volatiles that creates an indirect mechanism of defense. Volatile blends provide specific cues to attract herbivore parasites and predators to infested plants. The nature of the elicitors for volatile production is discussed.     

Current understanding of the interplays between host hormones and plant viral infections

Phytohormones mediate plant development and responses to stresses caused by biotic agents or abiotic factors. The functions of phytohormones in responses to viral infection have been intensively studied, and the emerging picture of complex mechanisms provides insights into the roles that phytohormones play in defense regulation as a whole. These hormone signaling pathways are not simple linear or isolated cascades, but exhibit crosstalk with each other. Here, we summarized the current understanding of recent advances for the classical defense hormones salicylic acid (SA), jasmonic acid (JA), and ethylene (ET) and also the roles of abscisic acid (ABA), auxin, gibberellic acid (GA), cytokinins (CKs), and brassinosteroids (BRs) in modulating plant–virus interactions.     

Phytohormonal signaling in plant responses to aphid feeding

Aphid feeding induces various defense signaling mechanisms in plants. The recognition of feeding activities by plants occurs through the use of transmembrane pattern recognition receptors (PRRS) or, acting largely inside the cell, polymorphic nucleotide-binding leucine-rich-repeat (NB-LRR) protein products, encoded by most R genes. Activation may induce defensive reactions which are the result of highly coordinated sequential changes at the cellular level comprising, among other changes, the synthesis of signaling molecules. The ensuing plant responses are followed by the transmission of defense response signal cascades. Signals are mediated by bioactive endogenous molecules, i.e. phytohormones, such as jasmonic acid (JA), salicylic acid (SA), ethylene (ET), abscisic acid (ABA), gibberellic acid (GA) and free radicals such as hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and nitric oxide (NO) which independently provide direct chemical resistance. Plant-induced defenses are also regulated by a network of inter-connecting signaling pathways, in which JA, SA, and ET play dominant roles. Both synergistic and inhibitory aspects of the cross-talk among these pathways have been reported. This paper presents molecular mechanisms of plant response to aphid feeding, the precise activation of various endogenous bioactive molecules signaling in the response of many plant species and their participation in the regulation of numerous defense genes, which lead to a specific metabolic effect. Selected important points in signal transduction pathways were also discussed in studies on plant response to aphid feeding.     

植物中逆境反应相关的WRKY转录因子研究进展

WRKY转录因子是植物体内一类比较大的转录因子家族,它在植物的生长发育以及抗逆境反应中起着非常重要的作用。本文综述了WRKY转录因子在植物应对冻害、干旱、盐害等非生物胁迫与病原菌、虫害等生物胁迫反应中的重要调控功能,并概括了WRKY转录因子在调控这些逆境反应中的机制。