Use of a tobacco Pathogenesis-related Protein-5 (PR-5) promoter: β glucuronidase (GUS) reporter system to study plant defence activation in response to phytohormones, abiotic stresses and biotic inducers.

Transient gene expression via agroinfiltration of tobacco leaves has been used to study the interaction between many different resistance (R) proteins and their cognate avirulence (Avr) proteins. In this assay system, R protein activation and downstream signalling results in leaf necrosis, a threshold phenotype that is not well suited to quantification of signal strength.

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