The roles of ABA in plant–pathogen interactions

Abstract

Defence against abiotic and biotic stresses is crucial for the fitness and survival of plants under adverse or suboptimal growth conditions. The phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) is not only important for mediating abiotic stress responses, but also plays a multifaceted and pivotal role in plant immunity. This review presents examples demonstrating the importance of crosstalk between ABA and the key biotic stress phytohormone salicylic acid in determining the outcome of plant--pathogen interactions. We then provide an overview of how ABA influences plant defence responses against various phytopathogens with particular emphasis on the Arabidopsis--Pseudomonas syringae model pathosystem. Lastly, we discuss future directions for studies of ABA in plant immunity with emphasis on, its role in the crosstalk between biotic and abiotic stress responses, the importance of distinguishing direct and indirect effects of ABA, as well as the prospect of utilizing the recently elucidated core ABA signaling network to gain further insights into the roles of ABA in plant immunity.

Identification of an abscisic acid transporter by functional screening using the receptor complex as a sensor

“…In contrast, AIT3 did not discriminate between (S) and (R) configurations of ABA (Fig. 2E), and was able to import GA 3 (Fig. 2F).…”

“…2 A and C). Interestingly, AIT3 imported both GA 3 and ABA (Fig. 2F), and it did not discriminate between (+)-and (−)-ABA (Fig.…”

“…In plants, the hormone abscisic acid (ABA) plays crucial roles in the responses to abiotic and biotic stresses, as well as in the induction and maintenance of seed dormancy (3)(4)(5)(6). Long-distance transport of ABA from roots to leaves has been extensively discussed in relation to stomatal closure in response to water deficit (7)(8)(9)(10)(11).…”

Plant Stress Surveillance Monitored by ABA and Disease Signaling Interactions

“…In addition to the genetic interactions of ABA signaling with ethylene, gibberellins, and brassinosteroids signal transduction in embryonic and early postembryonic development (Beaudoin et al, 2000;Gazzarrini et al, 2004;Ghassemian et al, 2000;Zhang et al, 2009), novel roles of ABA signaling during pathogen infection and following defense responses against biotic stresses have been suggested (Asselbergh et al, 2008;Cao et al, 2011;Fujita et al, 2006;Ton et al, 2009). Jasmonic acid (JA) and salicylic acid (SA) are two major plant hormones regulating plant biotic stress signal transduction.…”

Effect of heat-shock pre-treatment on tomato plants infected by powdery mildew fungus

“…Besides SA, other plant stress hormones such as abscisic acid (ABA) (Mauch-Mani & Mauch 2005;Cao et al 2011) and jasmonic acid (JA) (Pozo et al 2004;Halim et al 2006) may act in the defence signalling pathways in plant-pathogen interactions (Shigenaga & Argueso 2016). For example, exogenous application of JA effectively protected barley plants against infection by biotrophic powdery mildew fungus (Blumeria = Erysiphe graminis f.sp.…”