Plant Responses to Wounding

Jose J Sánchez‐Serrano, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología CSIC, Madrid, Spain

Published online: April 2001

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0001321

Plants react to mechanical damage by activating a set of wound-responsive genes, whose function is devoted to plant healing and prevention of subsequent pest and pathogen attacks. A wound-signalling cascade initiated at the site of injury is responsible for gene activation in local and systemic tissues.

Keywords: herbivory; jasmonic acid; wound-induced genes; wound signalling

Figure 1. Wound signalling networks in (a) potato, and (b) Arabidopsis thaliana. The molecular components involved in gene activation upon wounding, and their connections in both local and systemic leaves, are depicted. ABA, abscisic acid;  C2H4, ethylene; JA, jasmonic acid; OGAs, oligosaccharides. Arrows represent a positive interaction, a blunt-ended line indicates repression. Those genes that are activated are encircled: PIN, proteinase inhibitors; local and systemic genes, those whose expression is restricted to damaged and nondamaged tissues, respectively (see text for further explanation).
close
 References
    Baldwin IT and Preston CA (1999) The eco-physiological complexity of plant responses to insect herbivores. Planta 208: 137–145.
    Bögre L, Ligterink W, Meskiene I et al. (1997) Wounding induces the rapid and transient activation of a specific Map kinase pathway. Plant Cell 9: 75–83.
    Harsulkar AM, Giri AP, Patankar AG et al. (1999) Successive use of non-host plant proteinase inhibitors required for effective inhibition of Helicoverpa armigera gut proteinases and larval growth. Plant Physiology 121: 497–506.
    León J and Sánchez-Serrano JJ (1999) Molecular biology of jasmonic acid biosynthesis in plants. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 37: 373–380.
    Malone M and Alarcón JJ (1995) Only xylem-borne factors can account for systemic wound signalling in the tomato plant. Planta 196: 740–746.
    O'Donnell PJ, Calvert C, Atzorn R et al. (1996) Ethylene as a signal mediating the wound response of tomato plants. Science 274: 1914–1917.
    Peña-Cortés H, Fisahn J and Willmitzer L (1995) Signals involved in wound-induced proteinase inhibitor II gene expression in tomato and potato plants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 92: 4106–4113.
    Rojo E, León J and Sánchez-Serrano JJ (1999) Cross-talk between wound signalling pathways determines local versus systemic gene expression in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Journal 20: 135–142.
    Ryan CA and Pearce G (2001) Polypeptide hormones. Plant Physiology 125: 65–68.
    Vijayan P, Shockey J, Lévesque CA, Cook RJ and Browse J (1998) A role for jasmonate in pathogen defense of Arabidopsis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 95: 7209–7214.
    Weiler EW (1997) Octadecanoid-mediated signal transduction in higher plants. Naturwissenschaften 84: 340–349.
    Xie DX, Feys BF, James S, Nieto-Rostro M and Turner JG (1998) COI1: an Arabidopsis gene required for jasmonate-regulated defense and fertility. Science 280: 1091–1094.
 Further Reading
    book Agrawal AA and Tuzun Sand Bent E (eds) (1999) Induced Plant Defences against Pathogens and Herbivores. St Paul, MN: American Phytopathological Society Press.
    Glazebrook J (1999) Genes controlling expression of defense responses in Arabidopsis. Current Opinion in Plant Biology 2: 280–286.
    Maleck K and Dietrich RA (1999) Defense on multiple fronts: how do plants cope with diverse enemies? Trends in Plant Science 4: 215–219.
    Pare PW and Tumlinson JH (1999) Plant volatiles as a defense against insect herbivores. Plant Physiology 121: 325–331.
    Reymond P, Weber H, Damond M and Farmer EE (2000) Differential gene expression in response to mechanical wounding and insect feeding in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell 12: 707–719.
    Stotz HU, Kroymann J and Mitchell-Olds T (1999) Plant–insect interactions. Current Opinion in Plant Biology 2: 268–272.

Related Sub-Topics:

Plant Genetics and Molecular Biology | Intracellular and Extracellular Signalling | Cell Signalling | Plant Disease | Plant Epidermis and Cuticle
Contact Editor close
Submit a note to the editor about this article by filling in the form below.

* Required Field

Article Title: Plant Responses to Wounding
 
How to Cite close
Sánchez‐Serrano, Jose J(Apr 2001) Plant Responses to Wounding. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0001321]