Plant defense against pathogens

Agrawal, A. A., Tuzun, S. and Bent,E. (1999). Induced Plant Defenses Against Pathogens and Herbivores. St Paul, MO APS Press. 

Thaler, J. S., Fidantsef, A. L., Duffey, S. S. and Bostock, R. M. (1999). Trade-offs in plant defense against pathogens and herbivores a field demonstration of chemical elicitors of induced resistance. Journal of Chemical Ecology 25 1597-1609. 

Hammerschmidt, R., and Nicholson, R. L., 2001, A survey of plant defense responses to pathogens, in Inducible plant defenses against pathogens and herbivores Biochemistry, ecology, and agriculture. Am. Phytopathol. Soc., St. Paul, MN, pp. 57-71. 

Mehdy, M.C. (1994) Active oxygen species in plant defense against pathogens. Plant Physiol., 105, 467-472. 

Hammerschmidt, R. J.C. Schultz. 1996. Multiple defenses and signals in plant defense against pathogens and herbivores. In Phytochemical Diversity and Redundancy in Ecological Interactions, eds. J.T. Romeo, J.A. Saunders P. Barbosa, pp. 121-154, Plenum Press, New York. 

Although LOX activity is important to the plant s defense against pathogens, there are negative aspects of the enzyme in foods. LOX activity and the resulting fatty acid hydroperoxide products initiate free radical chains that modify proteins (particularly residues of Trp, His, Cys, Tyr, Met, and Lys) as well as vitamins or their precursors (e.g., carotene and tocopherol). Evidence of such free radical reactions is often visibly observed as loss of carotenoid/chlorophyll pigments in improperly blanched frozen foods. Another consequence of these free radical reactions is the development of potent off-flavors, many of which originate from decomposition of the fatty acid hydroperoxide products. 

Diterpene resin acids are abundantly produced in conifers of the pine family (Pinaceae) and in other plant species (Fig. 6). They are produced in the epithelial cells that surround the resin ducts that are found constitutively, or they are induced in the xylem upon wounding and are important for the physical and chemical plant defenses against herbivores and pathogens (18, 40). Industrially, diterpene resin acids are important chemicals for the naval stores industry, in printing inks, as potential antimicrobials and pharmaceuticals, and are byproducts of wood pulping processes. 

Stintzi, A., Heitz, T., Prasad, V., Wiedemannmerdinoglu, S., Kauffman, S., Geoffroy, P, Legrand, M., and Friting, B. (1993). Plant pathogenesis-related proteins and their role in defense against pathogens, Biochemie, 75, 687-706. 

CONSTABEL, C.P., A survey of herbivore-inducible defensive proteins and phytochemicals, in Induced Plant Defenses Against Herbivores and Pathogens (A.A. Agrawal, Bent, E., Tuzun, S., eds.), APS Press, St. Paul. 1999, pp. 137-166... 

Plant defenses contain constitutive responses and inducible responses. Two functions of the induced defense response of plants are against pathogens directly and against herbivores indirectly. Once plants are damaged by herbivorous arthropods, an induced volatile blend will be emitted so that carnivores can sense it from a distance. Indirect defenses work by attracting... 

Plants produce a wide range of biopolymers for purposes such as maintenance of structural integrity, carbon storage, and defense against pathogens as well as desiccation. Several of these natural polymers can be used by humans as food and materials, and increasingly as an energy carrier. Plant biopolymers can be also used as materials in certain bulk applications, such as plastics and elastomers (16). 

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