Studies on plant immunity in terms of constitutive activated cell death gene, CAD1

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Plants respond to biotic stress such as pathogen infection by activating a defense mechanism known as plant immunity. One of the most efficient and immediate resistance reactions against pathogen attack in plants is the hypersensitive response (HR), which leads to rapid local cell death at the site of pathogen entry that restricts growth and spread of the pathogen. The Arabidopsis mutant cad1 (constitutively activated cell death 1) shows a phenotype that mimics HR-like cell death. The CAD1 gene, which encodes a protein containing a domain with significant homology to the MACPF (membrane attach complex and perforin) domain of complement components and perforin, is likely to negatively control salicylic acid-mediated plant immunity. The mutant also enhances gene expression of the plant defensin (PDF1.2) which is related to the plant defense pathway regulated by ethylene and jasmonic acid (JA). These results suggest that resistance to the pathogen in the mutant is associated to the genes of ERF protein which controls ethylene-responsive genes. Microarray analysis using the cad1 mutant revealed some gene for the ERF genes which are likely involved in plant defense. Characters of the ERF gene were r