Identification of Jasmonate Responsive Genes Involved in Metabolic Pathways with cDNA Macroarray
and Analysis of Their Metabolites.

Abstract

Jasmonic acid (JA) and methyl jasmonate (MeJA) are singaling compounds under stress conditions such as wounding and pathogen responses. Our previous report has shown that MeJA treatment induced genes involved in jasmonates biosynthesis, tryptophan biosynthesis, and phytohormone metabolism such as auxin and salicylic acid.
For larger scale analysis, we screened jasmonates-responsive genes (JRGs) using cDNA macroarray covering 8,384 loci, and identified 300 genes as JRGs. In order to analyze JRGs in more detail, we focused on genes, which related to amino acid biosynthesis or secondary metabolism.Consequently, we found that jasmonates induced many genes involved in paticular metabolic pathways such as auxin biosynthesis, indole-glucosinolate biosynthesis, sulfur metabolism, and ascorbate metabolism in mRNA level. We measured contents of thiol compounds and activities of ascorbate recycling enzymes in jasmonate-treated plants, and found that JA treatment increased their contents and activities. The results indicate that jasmonates activate these metabolic pathways in Arabidopsis thaliana.