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PLANTS INTERACTING WITH OTHER ORGANISMS

Glycerol-3-Phosphate Levels Are Associated with Basal Resistance to the Hemibiotrophic Fungus Colletotrichum higginsianum in Arabidopsis^1,[W],[OA]

Department of Plant Pathology (B.C., S.C.V., S.K., L.V., A.K., P.K.) and Department of Horticulture (B.D.), University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40546; and United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Washington State University, Prosser, Washington 99350 (D.A.N.)

Glycerol-3-phosphate (G3P) is an important component of carbohydrate and lipid metabolic processes. In this article, we provide evidence that G3P levels in plants are associated with defense to a hemibiotrophic fungal pathogen Colletotrichum higginsianum. Inoculation of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) with C. higginsianum was correlated with an increase in G3P levels and a concomitant decrease in glycerol levels in the host. Plants impaired in utilization of plastidial G3P (act1) accumulated elevated levels of pathogen-induced G3P and displayed enhanced resistance. Furthermore, overexpression of the host GLY1 gene, which encodes a G3P dehydrogenase (G3Pdh), conferred enhanced resistance. In contrast, the gly1 mutant accumulated reduced levels of G3P after pathogen inoculation and showed enhanced susceptibility to C. higginsianum. Unlike gly1, a mutation in a cytosolic isoform of G3Pdh did not alter basal resistance to C. higginsianum. Furthermore, act1 gly1 double-mutant plants were as susceptible as the gly1 plants. Increased resistance or susceptibility of act1 and gly1 plants to C. higginsianum, respectively, was not due to effects of these mutations on salicylic acid- or ethylene-mediated defense pathways. The act1 mutation restored a wild-type-like response in camalexin-deficient pad3 plants, which were hypersusceptible to C. higginsianum. These data suggest that G3P-associated resistance to C. higginsianum occurs independently or downstream of the camalexin pathway. Together, these results suggest a novel and specific link between G3P metabolism and plant defense.

The author responsible for distribution of materials integral to the findings presented in this article in accordance with the policy described in the Instructions for Authors (www.plantphysiol.org) is: Pradeep Kachroo (pk62{at}uky.edu).

^[W] The online version of this article contains Web-only data.

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www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.108.121335

^* Corresponding author; e-mail pk62{at}uky.edu.

Received April 18, 2008; accepted June 10, 2008; published June 20, 2008.