Induction of defensive enzymes (isozymes) during defense against two different fungal pathogens in pear calli

Abstract

Activities of defensive enzymes peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and esterase (EST) and their isozymes in pear calli were studied to reveal their role in the defensive response to different fungal infections and to find some clues to enhance their antimicrobial properties. The results confirm the fact that the activities and isozymes of these five enzymes showed differences in response to different fungal infections. After the inoculation of two different fungi for the same calli, its defensive enzymes’ activities changed relatively when compared with those of the control and in Botryosphaeria berengriana f.sp. piricola (BBP)-infected calli, the enzymes’ activities changed more significantly than those of Monilinia fructigena Honcy (MFH). Meanwhile, more new isozymes were induced by BBP infection. These are in agreement with the fact that the BBP-infected calli decay was slower than that of the MFH. These results suggest that enhancing defensive enzymes’ activities and inducing new isozymes may be related to mitigating pathogen-induced oxidative damage which result in the decrease of calli decay, and this implies that antioxidant defense response may be involved in the mechanisms of plant against fungal pathogen.

Keywords: Pear callus, fungi infection, defense enzyme, isozyme, biochemical defense mechanism