Bifunctional promoter mediates suppressing effect of pathogen infection on UV-induced responses

Abstract

Plants are continuously challenged by multiple stresses in the natural environment. The responses mounted by the plant to fight a given type of stress can influence its ability to cope with other environmental perturbations. An intriguing example of interacting responses is the cross-talk between signaling cascades activated by UV radiation and plant consumers (pathogens and herbivores). Recent work on a variety of scales, from molecular to ecological, has revealed unexpected interdependencies between these responses. Ecological studies have shown that UV can affect plant resistance to attack by insect herbivores and pathogens, with the direction of the effect varying, in an apparently idiosyncratic manner, from system to system (i.e. depending on the combination of plant and consumer species). At the molecular level, interactions between UV and pathogen- or wound-induced signaling elements have also been shown. However, the nuts and bolts of these signaling connections, and their ecological and evolutionary implications, are still unclear.