Elicitor-stimulated induction of defense mechanisms and defense gene activation in grapevine cell suspension cultures

Abstract

A cell culture system has been developed to examine a multicomponent defense response induced in grapevine (Vitis vinifera L. cv. Limberger) tissues by both biotic and abiotic elicitors. H2O2 from the oxidative burst, cell death, extracellular alkalinization, and defense responses such as the accumulation of defense-related proteins and expression of corresponding genes were analyzed in grapevine suspension cultures. Cultured cells responded differentially to a set of 14 elicitors. The most effective group of elicitors was represented by salicylic acid, chitosan, methyl jasmonate, and elicitor released from cell walls of phytopathogen Botrytis cinerea. These four representative elicitors highly stimulated accumulation of pathogenesis-related proteins and key enzymes of the phenylpropanoid pathway. Further, fungal elicitor caused rapid transcriptional activation of genes encoding diverse defense-related products. The expression kinetics of four defense-related genes (PR-1, PR-9, PAL, and CHI) were different and strongly dependent on the nature of elicitor used.