Chitin, elicitors

Miya, A., Albert, P., Shinya, T. et al. 2007. CERKl, a LysM receptor kinase, is essential for chitin elicitor signaling mArabidopsis. Proc. Natl. Acad Sci. 104(49) 19613-19618. 

We observed the activation of chitin-specific PO during infection with the causative agents of a number of diseases in wheat under the influence of Btpolaris soroktntana and the elicitors (Fig. 4), Septoria nodorum (Yusupova et al, 2006) and Tilletia caries (Khairullin et al., 2000) in potato infected by Phytophthora infestans (Maksimov et al., 2011), and in Aegilops umbellulata infected by Septoria nodorum (Maksimov et al, 2006). 

The interdependence of methyl jasmonate with chitin- and chitosan-derived elicitors was studied using plant cell suspension cultures of Taxus canadensis. Induction of the biosynthesis of paditaxel and other taxanes was enhanced when methyl jasmonate and elicitors were added 8 days after culture transfer compared to treatments in which only methyl jasmonate or only elicitor was added. The optimal elicitor concentration using AT-acetylchitohexaose was 0.450 pM, but only in the presence of methyl jasmonate. Little, if any, induction of taxane formation occurred with the oligosaccharide alone. The optimal methyl jasmonate concentration was 200 pM using colloidal chitin or oligosaccharides of chitin and chitosan as elicitors. 

Secondly, the deacetylated form of chitin, chitosan, does not induce phytoalexin formation in the rice system but is active in other plant culture systems [99]. Glucan elicitors induce phytoalexins in legumes (soybean, chickpea, bean, alfalfa, pea) and solanaceous sp. (potato, sweet pepper) [100]. However, anthraquinone biosynthesis was stimulated in Morinda citrifolia by both chitin and chitosan. The degree of acetylation was found to be important in inducing defense responses. During the first few days of incubation after adding elicitor,... 

On the other hand, the impact of ethylene in the composition of headspace gases fed to Taxus sp. cultures was very evident. The positive involvement of ethylene was also noted when cultures were elicited with both dissolved and volatilized methyl jasmonate and with chitin- and chitosan-derived oligosaccharides. The effect of the latter compounds on biosynthesis of ethylene by the plant cell cultures brings us to a better understanding of the interdependence of elicitor and hormone concentrations and of cross-talk signal transduction in plants. 

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