Fungal Elicitor-Mediated Responses in Pine Cell Cultures

Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL, EC 4.3.1.5) is involved in the lignification of pine suspension cultures in response to an elicitor prepared from an ectomycorrhizal fungus. To elucidate the molecular basis of this response, PAL was purified to homogeneity from jack pine (Pinus banksiana) suspension cultures using anion-exchange and chromatofocussing fast protein liquid chromatography. Physical characterization of the enzyme revealed that pine PAL was similar to PAL from other plant sources. Pine PAL had a pH optimum of 8.8, an isoelectric point of 5.75, and a native molecular mass of 340 kilodaltons. The enzyme appears to be a tetramer composed of 77 kilodalton subunits. Chromatographic and western blot analyses were used to identify possible isoenzymic changes in pine PAL in response to elicitation and to determine the nature of the increase in PAL activity associated with inducible lignification in these cultures. Only one species of PAL was detected in P. banksiana cell cultures and increased quantities of this protein were correlated with the enhanced enzyme activity observed in elicited cultures. P. banksiana PAL was not feedback-inhibited by a wide range of phenolic compounds at micromolar concentrations, including the reaction product cinnamic acid. Our data suggest that a different set of metabolic and molecular controls must be in place for the regulation of PAL in pine.