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Exogenous Fatty Acid Hydroperoxide Perception as Elicitor Is Related to Modulation of Plant Plasma Membrane Structure
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  • Estelle Deboever,
  • Géraldine van Aubel,
  • Valeria Rondelli,
  • Alexandros Koutsioubas,
  • Marion Mathelie-Guinlet,
  • Yves Dufrêne,
  • Marc Ongena,
  • Laurence Lins,
  • Pierre Van Cutsem,
  • Marie-Laure Fauconnier,
  • Magali Deleu
Estelle Deboever
University of Liege

Corresponding Author:estelle.deboever@doct.uliege.be

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Géraldine van Aubel
Fytofend S.A.
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Valeria Rondelli
Università degli Studi di Milano
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Alexandros Koutsioubas
Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum
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Marion Mathelie-Guinlet
Université catholique de Louvain
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Yves Dufrêne
Université catholique de Louvain
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Marc Ongena
University of Liege
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Laurence Lins
University of Liege
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Pierre Van Cutsem
Université de Namur Departement de Biologie
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Marie-Laure Fauconnier
University of Liege
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Magali Deleu
University of Liege
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Abstract

Fatty acid hydroperoxides (HPOs) are amphiphilic molecules naturally produced by plants in stressed conditions and involved in plant immunity as signalling molecules. Although some studies report their potential use as exogenous biocontrol agents for plant protection, evaluation of their efficiency in planta is lacking and no information is available about their mechanism of action. In this work, the potential of two HPO forms, 13-HPOD and 13-HPOT, as plant defence elicitors and the underlying mechanism of action are investigated. Both HPOs trigger Arabidopsis innate immunity. They increase plant resistance to the pathogenic fungi Botrytis cinerea and activate early immunity-related defence responses, like ROS production. As our previous study has suggested that HPOs are able to interact with the plant plasma membrane (PPM) lipid fraction, we have further investigated the effects of HPOs on biomimetic PPM structure using complementary biophysics tools. Results show that HPO insertion into PPM impacts its global structure without solubilizing it. 13-HPOT, with an additional double bond compared to 13-HPOD, exerts a higher effect by fluidifying and reducing the thickness of the bilayer. Correlation between biological assays and biophysical analysis suggests that lipid amphiphilic elicitors that directly act on membrane lipids might trigger early plant defence events.