Oligogalacturonides: plant damage-associated molecular patterns and regulators of growth and development.

Oligogalacturonides (OGs) are oligomers of alpha-1,4-linked galacturonosyl residues released from plant cell walls upon partial degradation of homogalacturonan. OGs are able to elicit defense responses, including accumulation of reactive oxygen species and pathogenesis-related proteins, and protect plants against pathogen infections. Recent studies demonstrated that OGs are perceived by wall-associated kinases and share signaling components with microbe-associated molecular patterns. For this reason OGs are now considered true damage-associated molecular patterns that activate the plant innate immunity and may also be involved in the activation of responses to mechanical wounding. Furthermore, OGs appear to modulate developmental processes, likely through their ability to antagonize auxin responses. Here we review our current knowledge on the role and mode of action of this class of oligosaccharides in plant defense and development.

A gene for plant protection: expression of a bean polygalacturonase inhibitor in tobacco confers a strong resistance against Rhizoctonia solani and two oomycetes.

We have tested whether a gene encoding a polygalacturonase-inhibiting protein (PGIP) protects tobacco against a fungal pathogen (Rhizoctonia solani) and two oomycetes (Phytophthora parasitica var. nicotianae and Peronospora hyoscyami f. sp. tabacina). The trials were performed in greenhouse conditions for R. solani and P. parasitica and in the field for P. hyoscyami. Our results show that expression of PGIP is a powerful way of engineering a broad-spectrum disease resistance.

Antisense phenotypes reveal a role for SHY, a pollen-specific leucine-rich repeat protein, in pollen tube growth.

SHY, a pollen-specific gene identified in a screen for genes upregulated at pollen germination, encodes a leucine-rich repeat (LRR) protein that is predicted to be secreted. To test if SHY plays an important role during pollen germination, we generated transgenic plants expressing an antisense (AS) copy of the SHY cDNA in pollen. Primary transformants exhibited poor seed set, but homozygous lines could be identified. In these lines, nearly all pollen tubes failed to reach the ovules; tube growth was arrested at the apex of the ovary and the pollen tubes exhibited abnormal callose deposits throughout the tube and in the tips. We show that a SHY::eGFP fusion protein is targeted to the cell wall. The structure of the SHY protein is nearly identical to other extracellular matrix glycoproteins that are composed of LRRs, such as the polygalacturonase inhibitor proteins (PGIP) of plants. PGIPs may function as defense proteins by inhibiting fungal endo-polygalacturonases, but enzyme assays with extracts of AS-SHY pollen do not support such an inhibitor role for SHY. The tomato ortholog of SHY interacts with a tomato receptor kinase (LePRK2) in yeast two-hybrid and pull-down assays; this, and the AS-SHY phenotypes, suggest instead that SHY might function in a signal transduction pathway mediating pollen tube growth.