Cross talk between ethylene, nitric oxide and salicylic acid in ozone fumigated tobacco plants

Abstract

Stratospheric ozone (O3) protects life from detrimental ultraviolet-B radiation, but tropospheric O3 is a serious world-wide pollutant. It is generally accepted that O3 initiates an oxidative burst and an active production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Several signal molecules like ethylene (ET), jasmonic acid (JA), salicylic acid (SA) and nitric oxide (NO) have been hypothesized to act as a second or third messengers for O3-induced gene expression. Using a pharmacological approach, the aim of this work was to inspect the time course of the NO, SA and ET accumulation under ozone stress in the O3-sensitive tobacco cv BelW3 and the cross talk between these signaling molecules.