• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: Rapid Phosphorylation of a Syntaxin during the Avr9/Cf-9-Race-Specific Signaling Pathway
  • Contributor: Heese, Antje; Ludwig, Andrea A.; Jones, Jonathan D.G.
  • Published: Oxford University Press (OUP), 2005
  • Published in: Plant Physiology, 138 (2005) 4, Seite 2406-2416
  • Language: English
  • DOI: 10.1104/pp.105.063032
  • ISSN: 1532-2548; 0032-0889
  • Origination:
  • Footnote:
  • Description: Abstract The tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) resistance (R) gene Cf-9 is required for resistance to races of the fungal pathogen Cladosporium fulvum expressing the elicitor Avr9 and also confers responsiveness to Avr9 in Cf-9-containing transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum; Cf9 tobacco). Although protein phosphorylation is required for many early Avr9/Cf-9-signaling events, so far the only phosphorylation targets known in this race-specific signaling pathway are three kinases: the two mitogen-activated protein kinases, wound-induced protein kinase and salicylic acid-induced protein kinase, and the calcium-dependent protein kinase NtCDPK2. Here, we provide evidence that a tobacco syntaxin is rapidly and transiently phosphorylated after Avr9 elicitation. The syntaxin was detected with an antibody against NtSyp121, a plasma membrane-localized syntaxin implicated in abscisic acid responses and secretion. Consistent with the gene-for-gene hypothesis, syntaxin phosphorylation required the presence of both Avr9 and Cf-9. This phosphorylation event occurred either upstream of the pathway leading to reactive oxygen species production or in a parallel pathway. Interestingly, rapid syntaxin phosphorylation was triggered by the race-specific elicitor Avr9 but not by flg22P.aer, a general elicitor capable of inducing other defense-related signaling events in Cf9 tobacco such as reactive oxygen species production, mitogen-activated protein kinase activation, and PR5 transcript up-regulation. Furthermore, NtSyp121 transcript levels were increased at 24 h after elicitation with Avr9 but not with flg22P.aer. Because most other previously described Avr9- and flg22P.aer-elicited responses are similar, syntaxin phosphorylation and NtSyp121 transcript up-regulation may serve as novel early biochemical and late molecular markers, respectively, to elucidate further differences in the signaling responses between these two elicitors.
  • Access State: Open Access