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JXB Advance Access published online on May 31, 2008
Journal of Experimental Botany, doi:10.1093/jxb/ern096
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© The Author [2008]. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology]. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

RESEARCH PAPER

Early events induced by chitosan on plant cells

Bénigne-Ernest Amborabé, Janine Bonmort, Pierrette Fleurat-Lessard and Gabriel Roblin*

University of Poitiers, Laboratoire de Biochimie, Physiologie et Biologie Moléculaires Végétales, FRE CNRS 3091, 40, Avenue du Recteur Pineau, F-86022 Poitiers cedex, France

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: gabriel.roblin{at}univ-poitiers.fr

Chitosan (a polymer of β-1,4-glucosamine residues) is a deacetylated derivative of chitin which presents antifungal properties and acts as a potent elicitor of plant resistance against fungal pathogens. Attention was focused in this study on the chitosan-induced early events in the elicitation chain. Thus, it was shown that chitosan triggered in a dose-dependent manner rapid membrane transient depolarization of Mimosa pudica motor cells and, correlatively, a transient rise of pH in the incubation medium of pulvinar tissues. By using plasma membrane vesicles (PMVs), it was specified that a primary site of action of the compound is the plasma membrane H+-ATPase as shown by its inhibitory effect on the proton pumping and the catalytic activity of the enzyme up to 250 µg ml–1. As a consequence, chitosan treatment modified H+-mediated processes, in particular it inhibited the uptake of the H+-substrate co-transported sucrose and valine, and inhibited the light-induced H+/K+-mediated turgor reaction of motor cells. The present data also allowed the limit of the cytotoxicity of the compound to be established close to a concentration of 100 µg ml–1 at the plasma membrane level. As a consequence, chitosan could be preferably used in plant disease control as a powerful elicitor rather than a direct antifungal agent.

Key words: Chitosan, elicitor, H+-ATPase, membrane potential

Received 16 February 2008; Revised 7 March 2008 Accepted 10 March 2008


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