A major class of plant disease resistance (R) genes encodes leucine-rich-repeat proteins that possess a nucleotide binding site and amino-terminal similarity to the cytoplasmic domains of the Drosophila Toll and human IL-1 receptors. In Arabidopsis thaliana, EDS1 is indispensable for the function of these R genes. The EDS1 gene was cloned by targeted transposon tagging and found to encode a protein that has similarity in its amino-terminal portion to the catalytic site of eukaryotic lipases. Thus, hydrolase activity, possibly on a lipid-based substrate, is anticipated to be central to EDS1 function. The predicted EDS1 carboxyl terminus has no significant sequence homologies, although analysis of eight defective eds1 alleles reveals it to be essential for EDS1 function. Two plant defense pathways have been defined previously that depend on salicylic acid, a phenolic compound, or jasmonic acid, a lipid-derived molecule. We examined the expression of EDS1 mRNA and marker mRNAs (PR1 and PDF1.2, respectively) for these two pathways in wild-type and eds1 mutant plants after different challenges. The results suggest that EDS1 functions upstream of salicylic acid-dependent PR1 mRNA accumulation and is not required for jasmonic acid-induced PDF1.2 mRNA expression.