Biological activity of the elicitor released from mycelium of a grapevine isolate of the necrotrophic fungus Botrytis cinerea

Abstract

To obtain primary insight into the pathway(s) by which defense responses in grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) are induced, suspension cultures of grapevine cells were treated with an elicitor released from the mycelium of the necrotrophic fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea (PERs et FRIES). It induced a typical array of defense responses, including cell death accompanied by the production of H2O2 from the oxidative burst and accumulation of diverse groups of pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins and key enzymes of the general phenylpropanoid pathway, comprising phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), 4-coumarate-CoA ligase (4CL), chalcone synthase (CHS) and chalcone isomerase (CHI). Nuclear run-off experiments demonstrated that the fungal elicitor caused rapid transcriptional activation of genes encoding diverse defense-related products followed by a massive salicylic acid production.