Studies on the Response of Carrot Cells to a Sclerotinia sclerotiorum Elicitor: Induction of the Expression of an Extracellular Glycoprotein mRNA. Cristina Bertinetti. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioqufmicas Fundacion Campomar, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientfficas y Tecnicas CONICET, Antonio Machado 151, 1405 Buenos Aires, Argentina. Rodolfo A. Ugalde; Instituto de Investigaciones Bioqufmicas Fundacion Campomar, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientfficas y Tecnicas CONICET, Antonio Machado 151, 1405 Buenos Aires, Argentina. MPMI 9:658-663. Accepted 20 June 1996. Copy right 1996 The American Phytopathological Society.

A heat-released elicitor (HRE) obtained from Sclerotinia sclerotiorum mycelium induced a transient increase in the activity of phenylalanine-ammonia lyase (PAL) in a carrot cell culture. Differential display reactions carried out on total RNA extracted from cells exposed for 7 h to the HRE revealed a complex cell response involving the induction and repression of several mRNAs. One of these elicitor-induccd mRNAs encodes a 42.6-kDa protein. Northern (RNA) blot analysis and reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction studies showed that noninduced cells have a basal expression of the 42.6-kDa protein mRNA that was stimulated five- to 10-fold by treatment with the elicitor.