Open AccessThe small GTP-binding protein Rac is a regulator of cell death in plants
Author(s) -
Tsutomu Kawasaki,
Kenji Henmi,
Eiichiro Ono,
Satoru Hatakeyama,
Megumi Iwano,
Hiroyuki Satoh,
Ko Shimamoto
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.96.19.10922
Subject(s) - regulator , multicellular organism , programmed cell death , microbiology and biotechnology , gtp' , mutant , biology , reactive oxygen species , cell , biochemistry , apoptosis , gene , enzyme
Cell death plays important roles in the development and defense of plants as in other multicellular organisms. Rapid production of reactive oxygen species often is associated with plant defense against pathogens, but their molecular mechanisms are not known. We introduced the constitutively active and the dominant negative forms of the small GTP-binding proteinOsRac1 , a rice homolog of human Rac, into the wild type and a lesion mimic mutant of rice and analyzed H2 O2 production and cell death in transformed cell cultures and plants. The results indicate that Rac is a regulator of reactive oxygen species production as well as cell death in rice.