The Arabidopsis NIM1 protein shows homology to the mammalian transcription factor inhibitor I kappa B

Abstract

The NIM1 (for noninducible immunity) gene product is involved in the signal transduction cascade leading to both systemic acquired resistance (SAR) and gene-for-gene disease resistance in Arabidopsis. We have isolated and characterized five new alleles of nim1 that show a range of phenotypes from weakly impaired in chemically induced pathogenesis-related protein-1 gene expression and fungal resistance to very strongly blocked. We have isolated the NIM1 gene by using a map-based cloning procedure. Interestingly, the NIM1 protein shows sequence homology to the mammalian signal transduction factor I kappa B subclass alpha. NF-kappa B/I kappa B signaling pathways are implicated in disease resistance responses in a range of organisms from Drosophila to mammals, suggesting that the SAR signaling pathway in plants is representative of an ancient and ubiquitous defense mechanism in higher organisms.