Induction of PR proteins in germinating maize seeds infected with the fungus Fusarium moniliforme

Abstract The ability of germinating maize seeds infected with the fungus Fusarium moniliforme to synthesize PR proteins has been analysed. Infection with F. moniliforme results in the synthesis of two major acid-soluble proteins with apparent molecular weights of 23 and 24 kDa. The acid-soluble proteins include both acidic and basic proteins, as deduced by their behaviour in non-denaturing electrophoretic systems, which are resistant to digestion by proteolytic enzymes. The maize PRms protein and the tobacco PR-la protein are serologically related, as shown by the precipitation of in vitro synthesized products of the PRms gene by an antiserum to the PR-la protein from tobacco. Immunoblot analysis of protein extracts from non-infected and F. moniliforme infected seeds shows the induced accumulation of the PRms protein in response to fungal infection. The induction of the accumulation of the PRms protein correlates well with the induction of translatable PRms mRNA.