Fatty Acids Bind to the Fungal Elicitor Cryptogein and Competewith Sterols

• Authors: OSMAN Hanan; MIKEŠ Vladimír; MILAT Marie Louise; PONCHET Michel
• Year of publication: 2001
• Type: Article in Periodical
• Magazine / Source: FEBS Letters
• MU Faculty or unit: Faculty of Science
• Field: Biochemistry
• Keywords: elicitor; erogsterol; elicitin; Phytophthora
• Description: Cryptogein is a proteinaceous elicitor of plant defensereactions which also exhibits sterol carrier properties. Inthis study, we report that this protein binds fatty acids. Thestoichiometry of the fatty acid-cryptogein complex is 1:1.Linoleic acid and dehydroergosterol compete for the same site,but elicitin affinity is 27 times lower for fatty acid than farsterol. We show that C7 to C12 saturated and C16 to C22unsaturated fatty acids are the best ligands. The presence ofdouble bonds markedly increases the affinity of cryptogein forfatty acids. A comparison between elicitins and known lipidtransfer proteins is discussed.

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