VIEW ARTICLE

Physiology and Biochemistry

The Accumulation of β-Ionone and 3-Hydroxy Esters of β-Ionone in Tobacco Immunized by Foliar Inoculation with Tobacco Mosaic Virus. Sarah E. Wyatt, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546; Joseph Kuc, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546. Phytopathology 82:580-582. Accepted for publication 18 January 1992. Copyright 1992 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-82-580.

β-Ionone and several 3-hydroxy esters of β-ionone have been reported to have antifungal activity. Stem injection with β-ionone mimics the effects of stem injection with Peronospora tabacina sporangiospores. Both induce systemic resistance to blue mold and accelerate the growth and flowering of the plant. Systemic resistance induced by foliar inoculation with tobacco mosaic virus is associated with increases in the endogenous levels of β-ionone, 3-hydroxy-β-ionone, 3-n-butyroyl-β-ionone, and 3-acetoyl-β-ionone in uninfected stem tissue. Further increases in 3-n-butyroyl-β-ionone and 3-acetoyl-β-ionone occurred in protected plants in response to challenge inoculation with P. tabacina.