Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Sci. STKE, 18 July 2000
Vol. 2000, Issue 41, p. tw4
[DOI: 10.1126/scisignal.412000tw4]

EDITORS' CHOICE

Plant Biology Bring on the Defenses

When plants are subjected to stress, they bring out their chemical arsenal of secondary metabolites, which are often harvested for their incidental value as pharmaceuticals, flavors, dyes, and insecticides. This biosynthetic response is mediated in part by (methyl)jasmonate, a plant hormone produced in response to stress. Van der Fits and Memelink have now identified a transcription factor, ORCA3, which is regulated by (methyl)jasmonate and, in turn, regulates several genes in both primary and secondary metabolic pathways. Analysis of this gene leads to insights into how plants bring their chemical defense responses online without destructively disrupting their primary metabolic pathways, as well as into ways to produce secondary metabolites in vitro.

Van der Fits, L. and Johan Memelink, J. (2000) ORCA3, a jasmonate-responsive transcriptional regulator of plant primary and secondary metabolism. Science 289: 295-297. [Abstract] [Full Text]

Citation: Bring on the Defenses. Sci. STKE 2000, tw4 (2000).

To Advertise     Find Products

Science Signaling. ISSN 1937-9145 (online), 1945-0877 (print). Pre-2008: Science's STKE. ISSN 1525-8882