Differential role of MAX2 and strigolactones in pathogen, ozone, and stomatal responses.

Strigolactones are a group of phytohormones that control developmental processes including shoot branching and various plant-environment interactions in plants. We previously showed that the strigolactone perception mutant has increased susceptibility to plant pathogenic bacteria. Here we show that both strigolactone biosynthesis ( and ) and perception mutants ( and ) are significantly more sensitive to DC3000.

Comprehensive Analysis and Functional Studies of WRKY Transcription Factors in .

The WRKY family is one of the largest transcription factor (TF) families in plants and plays central roles in modulating plant stress responses and developmental processes, as well as secondary metabolic regulations. Lotus () is an aquatic crop that has significant food, ornamental and pharmacological values. Here, we performed an overview analysis of WRKY TF family members in lotus, and studied their functions in environmental adaptation and regulation of lotus benzylisoquinoline alkaloid (BIA) biosynthesis.

Genome sequence of the model plant pathogen SCC1.

Bacteria of the genus are economically important plant pathogens that cause soft rot disease on a wide variety of plant species. Here, we report the genome sequence of strain SCC1, a Finnish soft rot model strain isolated from a diseased potato tuber in the early 1980's. The genome of strain SCC1 consists of one circular chromosome of 4,974,798 bp and one circular plasmid of 5524 bp.

WRKY70 and its homolog WRKY54 negatively modulate the cell wall-associated defenses to necrotrophic pathogens in Arabidopsis.

Previous studies have identified the Arabidopsis thaliana transcription factor WRKY70 as a node of convergence for salicylic acid (SA) and jasmonic acid (JA)-mediated defense signal pathways and, together with its closest homolog WRKY54, as a negative regulator of SA biosynthesis. Here, we demonstrate that WRKY70 together with WRKY54 negatively affect the response of Arabidopsis to the necrotrophic pathogens Pectobacterium carotovorum and Botrytis cinerea, but not to the hemibiotroph Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato (Pst) DC3000, as revealed by mutants studies. Unstressed wrky54wrky70 double mutants exhibited increased levels of SA, accumulation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and up-regulated expression of both SA and JA/ethylene (ET) responsive defense related genes.