Abstract
The events leading to the development of a pathogen-induced disease in a plant are included in the term pathogenesis. The early steps in this interaction is confined to the phase when the pathogen gains entry into the host tissues, into the cells or between the cells by dissolving the cell-walls. At this stage the ability of the pathogen to degrade the cell-wall constituents such as cellulose, pectin, hemi-celluloses and protein by secreting the appropriate hydrolytic enzymes seems important. Although evidence for such enzymatic breakdown of cell-walls have been obtained in some cases such as soft rot, damping-off of seedlings, foot-rot of cereals, the role of these extracellular enzymes of the pathogen in other diseases is less clear.
The other facet of this problem, namely, the reaction of host tissues to the action of these pathogen factors is also important in the development of the disease. Several enzymes are either stimulated or inhibited in and around the infection loci. For example, oxidases such as polyphenolase and peroxidase show increased activity in several host-pathogen interactions studied. Increased activity of these enzymes could have been owing to their activation consequent upon release from “inactive” combinations with other cellular components or it could mean synthesis of these enzymesde novo in response to the activity of the pathogen. Be that as it may, the excessive activity of these enzymes would bring about death of cells and tissues if the stimulation is violent enough as encountered in “hypersensitive” reaction. Perhaps, plants can afford to loose the diseased portions in this battle without any serious repercussion on the rest of the portions.
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Memoir No. 52 from the Centre for Advanced Studies in Botany.
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Subramanian, D. Enzymes in pathogenesis. Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. 69, 133–141 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03052520
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03052520