Biochemical Interactions of Plants with Potentially Pathogenic Fungi

Abstract

As in two previous written versions of progress reports on current research on this topic (Hahlbrock et al 1985, Kombrink et al 1986), the present knowledge of the complex biochemical interactions of plants with potentially pathogenic microorganisms (Hahlbrock and Scheel 1986) is summarized as an abbreviated introduction in an up-dated scheme (Fig. 1). It is important to note that this scheme represents the average of many typical plant-microorganism interactions, but not necessarily each individual case. Moreover, not all parts of the multi-component defense response have been studied in a sufficiently large number of plants to draw conclusions as to their significance in disease resistance. Two existing case studies involving fungal genetics have revealed that cutin (Kolattukudy 1985, Dickman and Patil 1986) or phytoalexins (Kistler and VanEtten 1984) can be decisive components of the plant’s defense response.