Immunity in plants

Nurnberger T, Brunner F, Kemmerling BT, Piater L (2004) Innate immunity in plants and animals striking similarities and obvious differences. Immunol Rev 198 249-266 O Donnell VB, Tew DG, Jones OTG, England PJ. (1993) Studies on the inhibitory mechanism of iodonium compounds with special reference to neutrophil NADPH oxidase. Biochem J 290 41 49... 

Nurnberger T, Brunner F, Kemmerling B, Plater L (2004) Innate immunity in plants and animals striking similarities and obvious differences. Immunol Rev 198 249-266... 

K.S. Chester, The Problem of Acquired Physiological Immunity in Plants ,... 

Chester, K. (1933). The problem of acquired physiological immunity in plants. Quarterly Review of Biology 8, 275-324. 

Niimberger, T., Brunner, F. Innate immunity in plants and animals Emerging parallels between the recognition of general elicitors and pathogen-associated molecular patterns. Curr Opin Plant Biol 5 (2002) 1-7. 

J. Cohn, G. Sessa and G. B. Martin, Innate immunity in plants, Current Opinion in Immunology, 13, 2001, 55-62. 

Although important contributions in the use of electrical measurements in testing have been made by numerous workers it is appropriate here to refer to the work of Stern and his co-workerswho have developed the important concept of linear polarisation, which led to a rapid electrochemical method for determining corrosion rates, both in the laboratory and in plant. Pourbaix and his co-workers on the basis of a purely thermodynamic approach to corrosion constructed potential-pH diagrams for the majority of metal-HjO systems, and by means of a combined thermodynamic and kinetic approach developed a method of predicting the conditions under which a metal will (a) corrode uniformly, (b) pit, (c) passivate or (d) remain immune. Laboratory tests for crevice corrosion and pitting, in which electrochemical measurements are used, are discussed later. 

Feys, B. J., Wiermer, M., Bhat, R. A., Moisan, L. J., Medina-Escobar, N., Neu, C., Cabral, A. and Parker, J. E. (2005). Arabidopsis senescence-associated genelOl stabilizes and signals within an enhanced disease susceptibility 1 complex in plant innate immunity. Plant Cell 17, 2601-13. 

Wigdorovitz et al. [39] used a TMV expression vector to produce VP1, the 26-kDa structural protein from FMDV, and tested it in mice. Mice injected intraperitoneally with leaf extracts prepared from infected plants mounted an antibody response against the plant-derived protein. All immunized mice were protected when challenged with virulent FMDV. One-year old calves immunized with plant extracts containing VP1 also developed FMDV-specific antibody responses. 

The sera of mice fed with fresh spinach leaves infected with AlMV particles presenting a rabies virus epitope contained IgG and IgA. Mucosal IgA was also detected [48]. Human volunteers (in FDA approved trials) fed with spinach containing recombinant particles generated both IgG and IgA responses specific to the pathogen [49]. The trials also suggested that plant virus particle-based vaccines could be effectively used in prime-boost regimens. In more recent work, recombinant AlMV particles containing an epitope from the G protein of human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) induced protective immunity in mice [33]. 

Thus, the tetravalency, anti-inflammatory properties and molecular stability of slgA make it particularly suitable for protective passive immunity when applied to mucosal surfaces. To date, the clinical evaluation of slgA protection in humans and animal models has been very limited. Indeed most studies have employed monomeric IgA monoclonal antibodies [3,15]. Hence, differences in IgA and IgG protective activities at the mucosal level have often not been observed [15]. Only a few studies have demonstrated the superior activity of polymeric IgA or slgA compared with monomeric IgG or IgA [16]. In order to determine the efficacy of slgA, future animal experiments and clinical trials are needed to compare the activities of IgG monoclonal antibodies and their slgA counterparts. The ability to engineer slgAs in plants will allow these comparisons to be made [17]. 

Forouhar F, Yang Y, Kumar D, Chen Y, Fridman E, Park SW, Chiang Y, Acton TB, Montelione GT, Pichersky E, Klessig DF, Tong L (2005) Structural and biochemical studies identify tobacco SABP2 as a methyl salicylate esterase and implicate it in plant innate immunity. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102 1773-1778... 

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