Involvement of a putative Lycopersicon esculentum wall-associated kinase in the early steps of tomato-Orobanche ramosa interaction

The reported results demonstrate that Orobanche ramosa exudates, released over seed germination, are involved in the early tomato perception of this pathogen. For the first time, a 2642 by cDNA displaying characteristic features of wall-associated kinase receptor was cloned and characterized in tomato. Expression studies revealed that transcript level of this Lycopersicon esculentum wall-associated kinase (LeWAK) increased early in tomato roots and in cell suspensions challenged with Orobanche ramosa. The involvement of LeWAK as a sensor of cell wall alterations during broomrape attack and the subsequent activation of defense reactions is discussed in this paper. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.