Role of ascorbic acid against pathogenesis in plants

Abstract

Plants vary considerably in their physiological response to various kinds of environmental stress. To prevent damage caused by pathogenic attack and to acclimate to change in their environment, plants have evolved direct and indirect mechanism for sensing and responding to pathogenic stimuli. Ascorbic acid (AA) is found in all eukaryotes including animals and plants and lack completely in prokaryotes except cyanobactaria, have been reported to have a small amount. AA has now gained significant place in plant science, mainly due to its properties (antioxidant and cellular reductant etc.), and multifunctional roles in plant growth, development, and regulation of remarkable spectrum of plant cellular mechanisms against environmental stresses. As it is evident from the present review, recent progress on AA potentiality in tolerance of plants to pathogenic attack has been impressive to a greater extent. AA produced in plants as indirect response against pathogenic attack at different sites in plants and its intertwined network cause changes in nuclear gene expression via retrograde signaling pathways, or even into systemic responses, all of which are associated with pathogenic resistance. Indeed, AA plays an important role in resistance to pathogenesis.

Keywords

• Ascorbic acid
• pathogenesis
• plant hormones
• ROS signaling
• PR protein