Elicitation of ß-l,3-Glucanase and Chitinase Activities in Cell Suspension Cultures of Ascochyta rabiei Resistant and Susceptible Cultivars of Chickpea ( Cicer avietinum)

Abstract

Abstract β-1,3-Glucanase and chitinase activities have been analyzed in cell suspension cultures of an A scochyta rabiei resistant ILC 3279 and a susceptible ILC 1929 cultivar of chickpea (Cicer arietinum) following treatment with an elicitor derived from this fungal pathogen. A facile method to determine both hydrolase activities in the cell culture medium was established. Significantly higher constitutive and elicitor-induced levels of both hydrolase activities were found in the medium of the ILC 3279 cell culture. The release of these enzyme activities is not due to cell lysis, but rather the consequence of a secretion mechanism. The cells of the resistant line contained a 5 times higher level of chitinase activity in comparison to the ILC 1929 cell culture, whereas the latter cells possessed a 3 times higher β -1,3-glucanase activity. The results are interpreted that accumulation of extracellular hydrolase activities may play an important role among the various plant defense mechanisms previously determined for the incompatible interaction between the resistant cultivar and its fungal pathogen.