T. Shigaki et Mk. Bhattacharyya, Decreased inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate content in pathogen-challenged soybean cells, MOL PL MICR, 13(5), 2000, pp. 563-567
Phosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC) has been shown to be tra
nsiently activated when plant cells were treated with elicitors. We thus in
vestigated the activity of PI-PLC when soybean cells were infected with the
bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv, glycinea, by measuring cellula
r cytosolic inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) levels. We observed that IP3
content decreased in both compatible and incompatible interactions. In vit
ro phosphatase activities were similar in both water control and infected c
ells with slightly lower IP3 degradation observed for infected cells, indic
ating that the reduced IP3 content in infected cells most likely results fr
om reduced PI-PLC activity. We hypothesize that reduced IP3 content followi
ng infection may lead to suppression of various housekeeping activities of
the cells, thus diverting the cellular resources either to the synthesis of
defense-related compounds against pathogens, and/or to the growth of patho
gens.