Indução de resistência sistêmica por rizobactérias e comunicação na rota de sinalização para uma defesa refinada

Abstract

RHIZOBACTERIA-INDUCED SYSTEMIC RESISTANCE AND PATHWAY CROSS TALK TO FINE-TUNE DEFENSE Evolution has provided plants with sophisticated defensive strategies to “perceive” attack by pathogens and insects, and to translate that “perception” into an appropriate adaptive response. Plant innate immunity is based on a surprisingly complex response that is highly flexible in its capacity to recognize and respond to the invader encountered. In the past years, we explored Arabidopsis as a model to study the molecular basis of rhizobacteria-induced systemic resistance (ISR). Currently our research is also focused on the question: how are plants capable of integrating microbial- and insect-induced signals into defense responses that are specifically directed against the attacker? The alarm signals salicylic acid, jasmonic acid and ethylene are major regulators of plant defense. Their signaling pathways cross-communicate, providing the plant with a great regulatory potential to fine-tune its defense reaction. Recently, we discovered that the regulatory protein NPR1 functions as a modulator in cross-talk between SA and JA, thereby helping the plant to “decide” which defensive strategy to follow, depending on the type of attacker encountered. Here, we present an overview of our research of the past years.