Stimulation of plant defense responses.

Some defense mechanisms of plants are of the passive type while others are induced after perception of the pathogenic microorganism (very specific gene-for-gene recognition) or of microbial components (non specific elicitors). These recognition events trigger an array of plant signals and a cascade of signalling pathways which activate a battery of metabolic alterations responsible for the observed induced resistance. These include the stimulated production of low molecular weight molecules with antibiotic activity, cell wall reinforcement by deposition and cross-linking of various macromolecules, and accumulation of a wide range of PR ('pathogenesis-related') proteins that exhibit direct and/or indirect antimicrobial activities. The present studies aim to caracterize natural elicitors or design chemical messengers capable of triggering an array of plant defense responses. Treatments of plants with elicitors could be an alternative strategy of crop protection with a more satisfactory preservation of the environment. (C) 2001 Academie des Sciences/Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.