Nitric oxide and salicylic acid signaling in plant defense

Abstract

Salicylic acid (SA) plays a critical signaling role in the activation of plant defense responses after pathogen attack. We have identified several potential components of the SA signaling pathway, including ( i ) the H 2 O 2 -scavenging enzymes catalase and ascorbate peroxidase, ( ii ) a high affinity SA-binding protein (SABP2), ( iii ) a SA-inducible protein kinase (SIPK), ( iv ) NPR1, an ankyrin repeat-containing protein that exhibits limited homology to IκBα and is required for SA signaling, and ( v ) members of the TGA/OBF family of bZIP transcription factors. These bZIP factors physically interact with NPR1 and bind the SA-responsive element in promoters of several defense genes, such as the pathogenesis-related 1 gene ( PR-1 ). Recent studies have demonstrated that nitric oxide (NO) is another signal that activates defense responses after pathogen attack. NO has been shown to play a critical role in the activation of innate immune and inflammatory responses in animals. Increases in NO synthase (NOS)-like activity occurred in resistant but not susceptible tobacco after infection with tobacco mosaic virus. Here we demonstrate that this increase in activity participates in PR-1 gene induction. Two signaling molecules, cGMP and cyclic ADP ribose (cADPR), which function downstream of NO in animals, also appear to mediate plant defense gene activation (e.g., PR-1 ). Additionally, NO may activate PR-1 expression via an NO-dependent, cADPR-independent pathway. Several targets of NO in animals, including guanylate cyclase, aconitase, and mitogen-activated protein kinases (e.g., SIPK), are also modulated by NO in plants. Thus, at least portions of NO signaling pathways appear to be shared between plants and animals.