Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 7-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Plant defensins

Plant defensins Plant defensins are small, basic peptides that have a characteristic three-dimensional folding pattern that is stabilized by eight disulfide-linked cysteines. They are termed plant defensins because they are structurally related to defensins found in other types of organism, including humans. To date, sequences of more than 80 different plant defensin genes from different plant species are available. In Arabidopsis thaliana, at least 13 putative plant defensin genes (PDF) are present, encoding 11 different plant defensins. Two additional genes appear to encode plant defensin fusions. Plant defensins inhibit the growth of a broad range of fungi but seem nontoxic to either mammalian or plant cells. Antifungal activity of defensins appears to require specific binding to membrane targets. This review focuses on the classification of plant defensins in general and in Arabidopsis specifically, and on the mode of action of plant defensins against fungal pathogens. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Planta Springer Journals

Loading next page...
 
/lp/springer-journals/plant-defensins-C0bHOuA8lw

References (96)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 by Springer-Verlag
Subject
Life Sciences; Plant Sciences; Agriculture; Ecology; Forestry
ISSN
0032-0935
eISSN
1432-2048
DOI
10.1007/s00425-002-0902-6
pmid
12447532
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Plant defensins are small, basic peptides that have a characteristic three-dimensional folding pattern that is stabilized by eight disulfide-linked cysteines. They are termed plant defensins because they are structurally related to defensins found in other types of organism, including humans. To date, sequences of more than 80 different plant defensin genes from different plant species are available. In Arabidopsis thaliana, at least 13 putative plant defensin genes (PDF) are present, encoding 11 different plant defensins. Two additional genes appear to encode plant defensin fusions. Plant defensins inhibit the growth of a broad range of fungi but seem nontoxic to either mammalian or plant cells. Antifungal activity of defensins appears to require specific binding to membrane targets. This review focuses on the classification of plant defensins in general and in Arabidopsis specifically, and on the mode of action of plant defensins against fungal pathogens.

Journal

PlantaSpringer Journals

Published: Dec 8, 2002

There are no references for this article.