Abstract
Plants recognize a variety of molecules derived from microbe and quickly mount efficient defense responses. We have identified that flagellin, a main component of a bacterial flagellum, purified from rice-incompatible strain of Acidovorax avenae specifically induces defense responses, such as generation of reactive oxygen species and defense-related genes, in cultured rice cells. To clarify the flagellin perception system in plants, we tried to define the elicitor-active epitope of flagellin in some plants. The defense responses in cultured rice cells were induced by C-terminal flagellin fragment, but not by N-terminal part of flagellin containing flg22, an elicitor-active synthetic peptide in Arabidopsis. On the other hand, cultured Arabidopsis cells only respond to N-terminal flagellin fragment, but not to C-terminal flagellin fragment. These data indicate the existence of the diversity of the flagellin perception system among plant species.
