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Sci. Signal., 19 August 2008
Vol. 1, Issue 33, p. ec298
[DOI: 10.1126/scisignal.133ec298]

EDITORS' CHOICE

Plant Science Nuts and Bolts of Plant Pathogen Response

Laura M. Zahn

Science, AAAS, Washington, DC 20005, USA

Changes in oxidation status somehow regulate pathogen resistance in plants. The Arabidopsis NPR1, a master regulator of salicylic acid (SA)–mediated defense genes, is held in an inactive multimeric state in the absence of SA and, when SA is released, is converted into a monomer before it is transported into the nucleus where it acts. Tada et al. show that NPR1 is sequestered in the cytoplasm as an oligomer through S-nitrosylation at residue Cys156, which facilitates the oligomerization. Conversely, the SA-induced NPR1 monomerization is catalyzed by reduced thioredoxins. Mutants in both NPR1 Cys156 and thioredoxins compromised NPR1-mediated gene expression and disease resistance; this finding provides a missing link between pathogen-triggered cellular redox changes and gene regulation in plant immunity.

Y. Tada, S. H. Spoel, K. Pajerowska-Mukhtar, Z. Mou, J. Song, C. Wang, J. Zuo, X. Dong, Plant immunity requires conformational charges of NPR1 via S-nitrosylation and thioredoxins. Science 321, 952-956 (2008). [Abstract] [Full Text]

Citation: L. M. Zahn, Nuts and Bolts of Plant Pathogen Response. Sci. Signal. 1, ec298 (2008).

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