A quantitative and robust bioassay to assess plant defense response is important for studies of disease resistance and also for the early identification of disease during pre- or non-symptomatic phases. An increase in extracellular pH is known to be an early defense response in plants. In this study, we demonstrate extracellular alkalinization as a defense response in potatoes. Using potato sus...

Pathogen-inducible antimicrobial defense-related proteins have emerged as key antibiotic peptides and enzymes involved in disease resistance in plants. A novel antimicrobial protein gene, CaAMP1 (for Capsicum annuum ANTIMICROBIAL PROTEIN1), was isolated from pepper (C. annuum) leaves infected with Xanthomonas campestris pv vesicatoria. Expression of the CaAMP1 gene was strongly induced in peppe...

In recent years, the well-known plant pathogens of the Colletotrichum genus were increasingly reported to cause ophthalmic infections in humans. Among 66 species in the Colletotrichum genus, only a few are known to be pathogenic for humans. We report here five cases of ophthalmic infections due to Colletotrichum truncatum, a species never reported earlier to cause human infection. The isolates ...