Induction of plant disease resistance upon treatment with yeast cell wall extract.

It has been reported that treatment with yeast cell wall extract (YCWE) induces PDF1 and PR-1 gene expression; these transcripts are important markers of plant disease resistance, though the detailed signaling mechanisms that induce these defense responses are still unknown. In this report, we found that YCWE treatment triggered rice cell suspension cultures to accumulate phenylalanine (Phe), cis-12-oxo-phytodienoic acid (OPDA), 12-hydroxyjasmonoyle isoleucine (12OHJA-Ile), and azelaic acid (AzA). YCWE treatment also reduced endogenous triacylglycerol (TG) content. The addition of 13C-uniform-labeled oleic, linoleic and linolenic acids to the rice cell suspension cultures gave rise to 13C-uniform-labeled AzA. It was also found that YCWE treatment for Arabidopsis thaliana resulted in accumulations of OPDA, AzA, Phe, and camalexin together with enhanced resistance against Botrytis cinerea infection. This suggested that YCWE treatment upon plants may activate JA and AzA signaling systems to induce plant disease resistance.