Cell Surfaces in Plant-Microorganism Interactions

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Abstract
The production of ethylene by melon (Cucumis melo cv. Cantaloup charentais) tissues is stimulated during incubation in the presence of fungal glycopeptides extracted from Colletotrichum lagenarium, a pathogen of melon. These glycopeptides, called elicitors of ethylene, are found in the mycelium, the cell wall and the culture filtrate. Elicitation of ethylene is a relatively early phenomenon and lasts for several hours. Upon purification of the crude elicitor extract by gel filtration and ion exchange chromatography, 3 elicitors were isolated. The 3 elicitors contained amino acid, sugar and phosphate residues, and they have a decreased activity after partial chemical degradation of their sugar moiety. Elicitation of ethylene is not fungal species specific. Elicitors of phytoalexins, obtained from 3 Phytophtora spp. [P. megasperma, P. capsici, P. parasitica], enhanced ethyelene biosynthesis in melon tissues.