ANALYSIS OF SWEET CHERRY (PRUNUS-AVIUM L) LEAVES FOR PLANT SIGNAL MOLECULES THAT ACTIVATE THE SYRB GENE REQUIRED FOR SYNTHESIS OF THE PHYTOTOXIN, SYRINGOMYCIN, BY PSEUDOMONAS-SYRINGAE PV SYRINGAE
Yy. Mo et al., ANALYSIS OF SWEET CHERRY (PRUNUS-AVIUM L) LEAVES FOR PLANT SIGNAL MOLECULES THAT ACTIVATE THE SYRB GENE REQUIRED FOR SYNTHESIS OF THE PHYTOTOXIN, SYRINGOMYCIN, BY PSEUDOMONAS-SYRINGAE PV SYRINGAE, Plant physiology, 107(2), 1995, pp. 603-612
An important aspect of the interaction of Pseudomonas syringae pv syri
ngae with plant hosts is the perception of plant signal molecules that
regulate expression of genes, such as syrB, required for synthesis of
the phytotoxin, syringomycin. In this study, the leaves of sweet cher
ry (Prunus avium L.) were analyzed to determine the nature of the syrB
-inducing activity associated with tissues of a susceptible host. Crud
e leaf extracts yielded high amounts of total signal activity of more
than 12,000 units g(-1) (fresh weight) based on activation of a syrB-l
acZ fusion in strain B3AR132. The signal activity was fractionated by
C-18 reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography and found t
o be composed of phenolic glycosides, which were resolved in three reg
ions of the high-performance liquid chromatography profile, and sugars
, which eluted with the void volume. Two flavonol glycosides, querceti
n 3-rutinosyl-4'-glucoside and kaempferol 3-rutinosyl-4'-glucoside, an
d a flavanone glucoside, dihydrowogonin 7-glucoside, were identified.
The flavonoid glycosides displayed similar specific signal activities
and were comparable in signal activity to arbutin, a phenyl beta-gluco
side, giving rise to between 120 and 160 units of beta-galactosidase a
ctivity at 10 mu M. Although D-fructose exhibits intrinsic low level s
yrB-inducing signal activity, D-fructose enhanced by about 10-fold the
signal activities of the flavonoid glycosides at low concentrations (
e.g. 10 mu M). This demonstrates that flavonoid glycosides, which repr
esent a new class of phenolic plant signals sensed by P. s. syringae,
are in sufficient quantities in the leaves of P. avium to activate phy
totoxin synthesis.