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Leaf‐specific thionins of barley—a novel class of cell wall proteins toxic to plant‐pathogenic fungi and possibly involved in the defence mechanism of plants
Author(s) -
Bohlmann Holger,
Clausen Susanne,
Behnke Susanna,
Giese Henriette,
Hiller Claudia,
ReimannPhilipp Ulrich,
Schrader Gesine,
Barkholt Vibeke,
Apel Klaus
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1988.tb02980.x
Subject(s) - biology , cell wall , mechanism (biology) , defence mechanisms , plant defense against herbivory , botany , fungal protein , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , gene , peptide sequence , philosophy , epistemology
A novel class of highly abundant polypeptides with antifungal activity has been detected in cell walls of barley leaves. Similar polypeptides known as thionins occur not only in monocotyledonous but also in various dictoyledonous plants. The leaf‐specific thionins of barley are encoded by a complex multigene family, which consists of at least 50‐100 members per haploid genome. All of these genes are confined to chromosome 6. The toxicity of these thionins for plant pathogenic fungi and the fact that their synthesis can also be triggered by pathogens strongly suggest that thionins are a naturally occurring, inducible plant protein possibly involved in the mechanism of plant defence against microbial infections.