THE PLANT CELL, Vol 6, Issue 7 959-965, Copyright © 1994 by American Society of Plant Biologists

RESEARCH ARTICLES

Salicylic Acid Is Not the Translocated Signal Responsible for Inducing Systemic Acquired Resistance but Is Required in Signal Transduction

B. Vernooij, L. Friedrich, A. Morse, R. Reist, R. Kolditz-Jawhar, E. Ward, S. Uknes, H. Kessmann and J. Ryals
Agricultural Biotechnology, Ciba-Geigy Corporation, P.O. Box 12257, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709

Infection of plants by necrotizing pathogens can induce broad-spectrum resistance to subsequent pathogen infection. This systemic acquired resistance (SAR) is thought to be triggered by a vascular-mobile signal that moves throughout the plant from the infected leaves. A considerable amount of evidence suggests that salicylic acid (SA) is involved in the induction of SAR. Because SA is found in phloem exudate of infected cucumber and tobacco plants, it has been proposed as a candidate for the translocated signal. To determine if SA is the mobile signal, grafting experiments were performed using transgenic plants that express a bacterial SA-degrading enzyme. We show that transgenic tobacco root-stocks, although unable to accumulate SA, were fully capable of delivering a signal that renders nontransgenic scions resistant to further pathogen infection. This result indicated that the translocating, SAR-inducing signal is not SA. Reciprocal grafts demonstrated that the signal requires the presence of SA in tissues distant from the infection site to induce systemic resistance.

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