Oligogalacturonide-mediated induction of a gene involved in jasmonic acid synthesis in response to the cell-wall-degrading enzymes of the plant pathogen Erwinia carotovora

Identification of Arabidopsis thaliana genes responsive to plant cell-wall- degrading enzymes of Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora led to the isolat ion of a cDNA clone with high sequence homology to the gene for allene oxid e synthase, an enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of jasmonates. Expressio n of the corresponding gene was induced by the extracellular enzymes from t his pathogen as well as by treatment with methyl jasmonate and short oligog alacturonides (OGAs). This suggests that OGAs are involved in the induction of the jasmonate pathway during plant defense response to E. carotovora su bsp. carotovora attack.