Herbivore-induced resistance: differential effectiveness against a set of microbial pathogens in Arabidopsis thaliana

Abstract

Plants possess inducible defence mechanisms to protect themselves against different types of microbial pathogens and herbivorous insects. Defences induced against pathogens and insects are often incompatible. A major question in plant defence research is: how are plants capable of integrating signals induced by either microbial pathogens or insects into defences that are specifically active against the attacker? Three plant signalling molecules play a dominant role in the regulation of defences against both microbial pathogcns and insects: salicylic acid (SA), jasmonic acid (JA) and ethylene (ET). Cross-talk between SA-, JA- and ET-dependent signalling pathways is thought to be involved in fine-tuning the defence reaction, leading to activation of an optimal mix of defences to counteract the intruder. Here we studied the effect of herbivore-induced resistance in Arabidopsis thaliana against a range of microbial pathogens.