Abstract
The availability of genome information on defense-related genes in Arabidopsis and the development of reporter gene technologies have provided the means to construct promoter-reporter gene fusions for defense gene expression monitoring system. We have developed luciferase-based bioluminescence reporter system for defense genes and have shown that the system can be applied for screening of chemicals that induce defense responses in plants. The use of transgenic Arabidopsis plants harboring promoter-luciferase fusion genes in multiwell formats turned out to be an ideal approach for high-throughput screening of chemical libraries that requires a small-scale assay system for initial selection of compounds. We will present some of our results on screening and evaluation of plant activators and discuss the problems associated with this technology and future directions.
