Airborne signalling by methyl salicylate in plant pathogen resistance

Methyl salicylate, a volatile liquid, also known as oil of winter-green, is made by a number of plants 1–9 . Here we show that methyl salicylate is a major volatile compound produced by tobacco plants inoculated with tobacco mosaic virus. Methyl salicylate is synthesized from salicylic acid, a non-v...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1997-02, Vol.385 (6618), p.718-721
Main Authors: Shulaev, Vladimir, Silverman, Paul, Raskin, Ilya
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Botany
Disease resistance
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humanities and Social Sciences
letter
multidisciplinary
Nicotiana tabacum
Pathology. Damages, economic importance
Pesticides
Phytopathology. Animal pests. Plant and forest protection
Plant viruses and viroids
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Tobacco
tobacco mosaic virus
Viruses
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Methyl salicylate, a volatile liquid, also known as oil of winter-green, is made by a number of plants 1–9 . Here we show that methyl salicylate is a major volatile compound produced by tobacco plants inoculated with tobacco mosaic virus. Methyl salicylate is synthesized from salicylic acid, a non-volatile chemical signal required for the establishment of acquired resistance 10 and local and systemic induction of antimicrobial pathogenesis-related proteins 11 . Methyl salicylate acts by being converted back to salicyclic acid. We conclude that methyl salicylate may function as an airborne signal which acitvates disease resistance and the expression of defence-related genes in neighbouring plants and in the healthy tissues of the infected plant.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/385718a0