Ethylene Signaling in Plant-Pathogen Interactions
Summary
Ethylene is a simple gaseous phytohormone that plays a pivotal role in modulating plant defence and susceptibility during interactions with microbial pathogens. Upon perception of pathogen-derived or stress-induced cues, plants rapidly synthesise ethylene via the 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) pathway, triggering a complex signal transduction cascade. Central to this cascade are ethylene‐responsive transcription factors that orchestrate cross-communication with salicylic acid and jasmonic acid pathways, fine-tuning defence gene expression. Paradoxically, certain fungal and bacterial pathogens have evolved mechanisms to sense host-derived ethylene or to synthesise their own, thereby enhancing spore germination, appressorium formation and virulence. The dynamic interplay between ethylene production, perception and downstream signalling components thus dictates the outcome of infection events and underpins the global significance of ethylene biology in crop protection and postharvest disease management.
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Ethylene Signaling in Plant-Pathogen Interactions publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in ethylene signaling in plant-pathogen interactions across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Ethylene: A volatile plant hormone involved in stress responses, fruit ripening and defence signal transduction during pathogen attack.
Appressorium: A specialised fungal infection structure that generates turgor pressure to penetrate host plant tissues.
G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR): A membrane-embedded protein that transduces extracellular signals such as ethylene to intracellular signalling partners.
Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade: A sequential phosphorylation module that amplifies and relays extracellular stimuli to regulate gene expression.
Ethylene insensitive3-like1 (EIL1): A key transcription factor in the ethylene signalling pathway that activates downstream defence or metabolic genes.
1-Aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC): The immediate precursor of ethylene in plants, synthesised by ACC synthase and oxidised by ACC oxidase.
References
- Ethylene Promotes Expression of the Appressorium- and Pathogenicity-Related Genes via GPCR- and MAPK-Dependent Manners in Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. Journal of Fungi (2022).
- Integrated transcriptomic and metabolic analyses reveal that ethylene enhances peach susceptibility to Lasiodiplodia theobromae-induced gummosis. Horticulture Research (2022).
- The G protein subunit α1, CaGα1, mediates ethylene sensing of mango anthracnose pathogen Colletotrichum asianum to regulate fungal development and virulence and mediates surface sensing for spore germination. Frontiers in Microbiology (2022).
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