The Arabidopsis NIM1 Protein Shows Homology to the Mammalian Transcription Factor Inhibitor IκB

• Published in: The Plant cell 1997-03, Vol.9 (3), p.425-439
• Main Authors: Ryals, John, Weymann, Kris, Lawton, Kay, Friedrich, Leslie, Ellis, Daniel, Steiner, Henry-York, Johnson, Jay, Delaney, Terrence P., Jesse, Taco, Vos, Pieter, Uknes, Scott
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alleles; Amino Acid Sequence; Amino acids; Animals; Arabidopsis; Arabidopsis - genetics; Arabidopsis - physiology; Arabidopsis Proteins; Base Sequence; Cosmids; DNA Transposable Elements; DNA-Binding Proteins - chemistry; Genetic mutation; I-kappa B Proteins; Immunity, Innate; Mammals; Messenger RNA; Mice; Molecular Sequence Data; Mutation; NF-KappaB Inhibitor alpha; Nucleotides; Plant cells; Plant Diseases - microbiology; Plant Proteins - biosynthesis; Plant Proteins - chemistry; Plant Proteins - genetics; Plants; Point Mutation; Proto-Oncogene Proteins - chemistry; Rats; Restriction Mapping; RNA; Sequence Deletion; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Signal transduction; Swine
• ISSN: 1040-4651; 1532-298X
• DOI: 10.1105/tpc.9.3.425

The NIM1 (for noninducible immunity) gene product is involved in the signal transduction cascade leading to both systemic acquired resistance (SAR) and gene-for-gene disease resistance in Arabidopsis. We have isolated and characterized five new alleles of nim1 that show a range of phenotypes from weakly impaired in chemically induced pathogenesis-related protein-1 gene expression and fungal resistance to very strongly blocked. We have isolated the NIM1 gene by using a map-based cloning procedure. Interestingly, the NIM1 protein shows sequence homology to the mammalian signal transduction factor IκB subclass α. NF-κB/IκB signaling pathways are implicated in disease resistance responses in a range of organisms from Drosophila to mammals, suggesting that the SAR signaling pathway in plants is representative of an ancient and ubiquitous defense mechanism in higher organisms.