Accumulation of hydroxyproline-rich glycoprotein mRNAs in response to fungal elicitor and infection

Abstract

Hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins (HRGPs) are important structural components of plant cell walls and also accumulate in response to infection as an apparent defense mechanism. Accumulation of HRGP mRNA in biologically stressed bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) cells was monitored by blot hybridization with 32P-labeled tomato genomic HRGP sequences. Elicitor treatment of suspension-cultured cells caused a marked increase in hybridizable HRGP mRNA. The response was less rapid but more prolonged than that observed for mRNAs encoding enzymes of phytoalexin biosynthesis. HRGP mRNA also accumulated during race:cultivar-specific interactions between bean hypocotyls and the partially biotrophic fungus Colletrichum lindemuthianum, the causal agent of anthracnose. In an incompatible interaction (host resistant) there was an early increase in HRGP mRNA correlated with expression of hypersensitive resistance; whereas, in a compatible initeraction (host susceptible), marked accumulation of HRGP mRNA occurred as a delayed response of the onset of lesion formation. In both interactions, mRNA accumulation was observed in uninfected cells distant from the site of fungal inoculation, indicating intercellular transmission of an elicitation signal.