6533b824fe1ef96bd127ffff

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Activation of Grapevine Defense Mechanisms: Theoretical and Applied Approaches

subject

description

part 4.; International audience; Grapevine, as other plants, possesses an innate immune system that usually prevents infection by pathogens. General elicitors are compounds of different biochemical families capable of inducing plant defense reactions. In grapevine, the cascade of defense events induced by elicitors has been studied among others in cell suspensions. The perception of the elicitor triggers signaling events that allow the activation of defense genes encoding PR proteins and other proteins involved in phytoalexin production and cell wall reinforcement. The grapevine phytoalexins resveratrol and derivated compounds have been largely studied. In addition to their antimicrobial activity, they may also contribute to cell wall reinforcement. The mode of action and activity of elicitors depends on their chemical structure. Elicitors are of particular interest for crop protection since they can not only elicit defenses in a broad spectrum of plants, but are also mostly deprived of toxicity and suitable for industrial production from abundant sources. In spite of promising results, on the whole, application of induced resistance in the vineyard still often suffers from inconsistency and provides only limited disease control up to now.