9600183 Low This award provides funds to permit Dr. Philip S. Low, Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, to pursue with Dr. Youngsook Lee, Department of Life Sciences, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Korea, for 24 months, a program of cooperative research on lipid second messengers in plant signal transduction. The collaborators propose to further their understanding of the roles of lipid-derived second messengers in plant defense by (1) testing whether addition of phospholipase A or C reaction products can independently stimulate the oxidative burst in both cultured cells and in intact plants, (2) determining whether elicitors of the oxidative burst also activate phospholipases A and C in intact soybean and tomato plants, and (3) evaluating whether mutant tomato plants that are defective in the oligogalacturonide-induced oxidative burst are also defective in activating these phospholipases. Plant defense systems are activated upon exposure to pathogens or to specific molecules derived from pathogens, termed elicitors. One of the most rapid plant defense responses identified to date is the oxidative burst, a process whereby hydrogen peroxide or peroxide ions are released within minutes of elicitor binding to plant cell surface receptors. The experiments to be undertaken in this project are expected to establish whether phospholipases A and C participate in signaling the oxidative burst in both suspension cultured cells and in intact soybean and tomato plants. The collaborators are experienced in research in the field of this project. Dr. Low's experience, however, is primarily with cultured cell assays, while Dr. Lee has concentrated on intact plant systems. Their complementary expertise will be a valuable asset in this study of plant defense systems. This project is relevant to the objectives of the U.S.-Korea Cooperative Science Program which seeks to increase the level of cooperation between U.S. and Korean scientists and engineer s through the exchange of scientific information, ideas, skills, and techniques and through collaboration on problems of mutual benefit. Korean participation in the project is supported by the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF). This project adds an international cooperative dimension to the PI's research under NSF Grant No. MCB-9303929. ***
