Abstract
The treatment of brassinolide (BL), the most active BR, induces resistance against a broad range of pathogens in rice, tobacco and Arabidopsis. The analysis of induction mechanism of brassinosteroid-mediated disease resistance (BDR) using Arabidopsis indicated that BDR needs NPR1 protein, a key component of systemic acquired resistance. However, BL treatment did not induce the expression of pathogenesis-related genes (PR-1, 2 and5) and the accumulation of salicylic acid. BDR was not induced in an ethylene insensitive mutant, ein2. Our data suggest that ethylene plays an important role in BDR.
