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Programmed cell death, mitochondria and the plant hypersensitive response

Nature volume 411, pages 848–853 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

The plant response to attempted infection by microbial pathogens is often accompanied by rapid cell death in and around the initial infection site, a reaction known as the hypersensitive response. This response is associated with restricted pathogen growth and represents a form of programmed cell death (PCD). Recent pharmacological and molecular studies have provided functional evidence for the conservation of some of the basic regulatory mechanisms underlying the response to pathogens and the activation of PCD in animal and plant systems. In animals, the mitochondrion integrates diverse cellular stress signals and initiates the death execution pathway, and studies indicate a similar involvement for mitochondria in regulating PCD in plants. But many of the cell-death regulators that have been characterized in humans, worms and flies are absent from the Arabidopsis genome, indicating that plants probably use other regulators to control this process.

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Figure 1: Tobacco mosaic virus/N gene interaction: a classic hypersensitive response (HR) model system.
Figure 2: The death signal pathway through the mitochondrion.
Figure 3: Structural analysis of BI-1-related proteins in the Arabidopsis genome.

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Acknowledgements

Research in the Lam and Lawton laboratories is supported by the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology. Research on plant cell death in the Lam laboratory is supported by competitive grants from the USDA.

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  1. Biotechnology Center for Agriculture and the Environment, Rutgers University, 59 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, 08901-8520, New Jersey, USA

    Eric Lam, Naohiro Kato & Michael Lawton

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Correspondence to Eric Lam.

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Lam, E., Kato, N. & Lawton, M. Programmed cell death, mitochondria and the plant hypersensitive response. Nature 411, 848–853 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35081184

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