Plant-microbe interactions antimicrobial activity

Crooks, C. and Lamb, C. (2001). Identification of a host-pathogen specific gene conferring protection from a preformed antimicrobial activity in Arabidopsis. In "10th International Congress on Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions University of Wisconsin", Madison, USA. 

We can distinguish between secondary metabolites that are already present prior to an attack or wounding, so-called constitutive compounds, and others that are induced by these processes and made de novo. Inducing agents, which have been termed elicitors by phytopathologists, can be cell wall fragments of microbes, the plant itself, or many other chemical constituents (4,17,22-24). The induced compounds are called phytoalexins, which is merely a functional term, since these compounds often do not differ in structure from constitutive natural products. In another way this term is misleading, since it implies that the induced compound is only active in plant-microbe interactions, whereas in reality it often has multiple functions that include antimicrobial and antiherbivoral properties (see below). 

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