Multimedia Gallery - The illustration depicts steps involved in the development of a systemic immune response in plants.

Steps involved in plant's systemic immune response.

October 5, 2007

The illustration depicts steps involved in the development of a systemic immune response in plants.

When a plant is infected by a pathogen, a plant hormone called salicylic acid (SA) activates defenses locally. Some of this SA is converted by an enzyme known as SAMT into an aspirin-like compound called methyl salicylate (MeSA) that travels to uninfected parts of the plant and thereby activates a plant-wide immune response. But some SA at the infection site binds to an enzyme called salicylic acid binding protein 2 (SABP2). This binding prevents the enzyme from converting SA at the infection site into biologically inactive MeSA.

Credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation

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