Elicitor

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Elicitors in plant biology are extrinsic or foreign molecules often associated with plant pests, diseases or synergistic organisms. Elicitor molecules can attach to special receptor proteins located on plant cell membranes. These receptors are able to recognize the molecular pattern of elicitors and trigger intracellular defence signalling via the Octadecanoid pathway. This response results in the enhanced synthesis of metabolites which reduce damage and increase resistance to pest, disease or environmental stress. This is an immune response known as pattern triggered immunity or PTI. [1] PTI is effective against necrotrophic microorganisms.

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An example is chitosan which is found in insects, fungi and the shells of crustaceans. Chitosan is used in agriculture as a natural biocontrol agent, to improve plant health and increase crop yields.

Effectors and Hormones

Effectors and hormones are other signalling molecules often confused with elicitors. Elicitors and effectors differ from hormones in that they are not produced within the organism that they are triggering a response in, and are usually not naturally occurring in the organism.

Plant Hormones

Plant hormones are signalling molecules produced within the plant (i.e. they are endogenous). Hormones regulate cellular processes in targeted cells locally and can be moved to other parts of the plant. Examples of plant hormones are auxins, cytokins, gibberellin, ethylene, abscisic acid, salicylic acid and jasmonates. Hormones naturally occur in extremely low, finely balanced, concentrations.

Plant hormones act as plant growth regulators or modulators. Modulators are defined as molecules that "bind to a particular target protein, mainly to an enzyme, thereby directly changing its activity, i.e. increasing or decreasing". [2] An example is salicylic acid which is a modulator of catalase isozymes activity and jasmonate, which modulates phenylalanine ammonia lyase activity. [3]

Effectors

Effectors are proteins secreted by microbial pathogens which can either trigger or compromise immunity depending on the ability of perception (presence of suitable receptor) and response (appropriate defence reaction) of the plant. Effector could be extracellular or injected directly into cells.

Microorganisms are able to inject effectors directly into host cells to by-pass induced defences in plants. This compromises the host plant's defence system and is referred to as effector-triggered susceptibility (ETS). The remaining immunity is called basal defense [4] which can limit the spread of virulent pathogens in their hosts but it is typically insufficient to prevent disease. [1]

In response to this threat, plant's have evolved effector recognition protein receptors to recognise, or monitor, effectors and initiate effector-triggered immunity (ETI). [5] ETI is a strong immune response that efficiently protects plants from avirulent biotrophic pathogens and is often associated with the hypersensitive reaction (HR), a form of programmed death of plant cells at infection sites. [1]

Crop Protection and Commercialisation of Elicitors

Elicitors can protect crops from diseases, stress and damage. Elicitors do not need to be directly toxic for pathogenic organisms or pests to be of benefit. Therefore, they are an alternative to conventional pesticides which are often harmful for the environment, farmers and consumers [1] and for which consumers are increasingly seeking safer alternatives.

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Chitin Long-chain polymer of a N-acetylglucosamine

Chitin (C8H13O5N)n ( KY-tin) is a long-chain polymer of N-acetylglucosamine, an amide derivative of glucose. The second most abundant polysaccharide in nature (behind only cellulose), it is a primary component of cell walls in fungi, the exoskeletons of arthropods such as crustaceans and insects, and the radulae, cephalopod beaks and gladii of molluscs. It is also synthesised by at least some fish and lissamphibians. The structure of chitin is comparable to cellulose, forming crystalline nanofibrils or whiskers. It is functionally comparable to the protein keratin. Chitin has proved useful for several medicinal, industrial and biotechnological purposes.

Plant hormone Chemical compounds that regulate plant growth and development

Plant hormones are signal molecules, produced within plants, that occur in extremely low concentrations. Plant hormones control all aspects of plant growth and development, from embryogenesis, the regulation of organ size, pathogen defense, stress tolerance and through to reproductive development. Unlike in animals each plant cell is capable of producing hormones. Went and Thimann coined the term "phytohormone" and used it in the title of their 1937 book.

Jasmonate

Jasmonate (JA) and its derivatives are lipid-based plant hormones that regulate a wide range of processes in plants, ranging from growth and photosynthesis to reproductive development. In particular, JAs are critical for plant defense against herbivory and plant responses to poor environmental conditions and other kinds of abiotic and biotic challenges. Some JAs can also be released as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to permit communication between plants in anticipation of mutual dangers.

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Jasmonic acid Chemical compound

Jasmonic acid (JA) is an organic compound found in several plants including jasmine. The molecule is a member of the jasmonate class of plant hormones. It is biosynthesized from linolenic acid by the octadecanoid pathway. It was first isolated in 1957 as the methyl ester of jasmonic acid by the Swiss chemist Edouard Demole and his colleagues.

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Neuroimmune system

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Systemin Plant peptide hormone

Systemin is a plant peptide hormone involved in the wound response in the family Solanaceae. It was the first plant hormone that was proven to be a peptide having been isolated from tomato leaves in 1991 by a group led by Clarence A. Ryan. Since then, other peptides with similar functions have been identified in tomato and outside of the Solanaceae. Hydroxyproline-rich glycopeptides were found in tobacco in 2001 and AtPeps were found in Arabidopsis thaliana in 2006. Their precursors are found both in the cytoplasm and cell walls of plant cells, upon insect damage, the precursors are processed to produce one or more mature peptides. The receptor for systemin was first thought to be the same as the brassinolide receptor but this is now uncertain. The signal transduction processes that occur after the peptides bind are similar to the cytokine-mediated inflammatory immune response in animals. Early experiments showed that systemin travelled around the plant after insects had damaged the plant, activating systemic acquired resistance, now it is thought that it increases the production of jasmonic acid causing the same result. The main function of systemins is to coordinate defensive responses against insect herbivores but they also affect plant development. Systemin induces the production of protease inhibitors which protect against insect herbivores, other peptides activate defensins and modify root growth. They have also been shown to affect plants' responses to salt stress and UV radiation. AtPEPs have been shown to affect resistance against oomycetes and may allow A. thaliana to distinguish between different pathogens. In Nicotiana attenuata, some of the peptides have stopped being involved in defensive roles and instead affect flower morphology.

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Damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) are molecules within cells that are a component of the innate immune response released from damaged or dying cells due to trauma or an infection by a pathogen. They are also known as danger-associated molecular patterns, danger signals, and alarmin because they serve as a warning sign for the organism to alert it of any damage or infection to its cells. DAMPs are endogenous danger signals that are discharged to the extracellular space in response to damage to the cell from trauma or pathogen. Once a DAMP is released from the cell, it promotes a noninfectious inflammatory response by binding to a pattern-recognition receptor. Inflammation is a key aspect of the innate immune response because it is used to help mitigate future damage to the organism by removing harmful invaders from the affected area and start the healing process. As an example, the cytokine IL-1α is a DAMP that originates within the nucleus of the cell, which once released to the extracellular space, binds to the PRR IL-1R, which in turn initiates an inflammatory response to the trauma or pathogen that initiated the release of IL-1α. In contrast to the noninfectious inflammatory response produced by DAMPs, pathogen-associated molecular patterns initiate and perpetuate the infectious pathogen-induced inflammatory response. Many DAMPs are nuclear or cytosolic proteins with defined intracellular function that are released outside the cell following tissue injury. This displacement from the intracellular space to the extracellular space moves the DAMPs from a reducing to an oxidizing environment, causing their functional denaturation, resulting in their loss of function. Outside of the aforementioned nuclear and cytosolic DAMPs, there are other DAMPs originated from different sources, such as mitochondria, granules, the extracellular matrix, the endoplasmic reticulum, and the plasma membrane.

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Plant disease resistance Ability of a plant to stand up to trouble

Plant disease resistance protects plants from pathogens in two ways: by pre-formed structures and chemicals, and by infection-induced responses of the immune system. Relative to a susceptible plant, disease resistance is the reduction of pathogen growth on or in the plant, while the term disease tolerance describes plants that exhibit little disease damage despite substantial pathogen levels. Disease outcome is determined by the three-way interaction of the pathogen, the plant and the environmental conditions.

Effector-triggered immunity

Effector-triggered immunity (ETI) is a property of the innate immune system. ETI was first identified in plants but has also been identified in animal cells.

Jane Elizabeth Parker is a British scientist who researches the immune responses of plants at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research.

Induced Systemic Resistance (ISR) is a resistance mechanism in plants that is activated by infection. Its mode of action does not depend on direct killing or inhibition of the invading pathogen, but rather on increasing physical or chemical barrier of the host plant. Like the Systemic Acquired Resistance (SAR) a plant can develop defenses against an invader such as a pathogen or parasite if an infection takes place. In contrast to SAR which is triggered by the accumulation of salicylic acid, ISR instead relies on signal transduction pathways activated by jasmonate and ethylene.

Leucine-rich repeat receptor like protein kinase

Leucine-rich repeat receptor like protein kinase are plant cell membrane localized Leucine-rich repeat (LRR) receptor kinase that play critical roles in plant innate immunity. Plants have evolved intricate immunity mechanism to combat against pathogen infection by recognizing Pathogen Associated Molecular Patterns (PAMP) and endogenous Damage Associated Molecular Patterns (DAMP). PEPR 1 considered as the first known DAMP receptor of Arabidopsis.

Thimet oligopeptidase

Thimet oligopeptidases, also known as TOPs, are a type of M3 metallopeptidases. These enzymes can be found in animals and plants, showing distinctive functions. In animals and humans, they are involved in the degradation of peptides, such as bradykinin, neurotensin, angiotensin I, and Aβ peptide, helping to regulate physiological processes. In plants, their role is related to the degradation of targeting peptides and the immune response to pathogens through Salicylic Acid (SA)-dependent stress signaling. In Arabidopsis thaliana—recognized as a model plant for scientific studies—two thimet oligopeptidases, known as TOP1 and TOP2, have been identified as targets for salicylic acid binding in the plant. These TOP enzymes are key components to understand the SA-mediated signaling where interactions exist with different components and most of the pathways are unknown.

References

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  2. Massimo E. Maffei, Gen-Ichiro Arimura and Axel Mithöfer (2012). "Natural elicitors, effectors and modulators of plant responses". Nat. Prod. Rep. 29 (11): 1288–1303. doi:10.1039/C2NP20053H. PMID   22918379.
  3. Gayatridevi, S.; Jayalakshmi, S. K.; Sreeramulu, K. (March 2012). "Salicylic acid is a modulator of catalase isozymes in chickpea plants infected with Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. ciceri". Plant Physiology and Biochemistry. 52: 154–161. doi:10.1016/j.plaphy.2011.12.005. PMID   22245913.
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