Maya Bar

Plants are exposed to pathogenic microorganisms in their environment, and have developed various defense mechanisms to avoid disease and death. Active defense reactions can also be triggered by treatment with microbial compounds called elicitors or microbial-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs), which may be characteristic of a whole group of organisms or limited to specific strains of a microbial species. Endocytosis has been demonstrated to be involved in plant immunity. EH domain-containing proteins (EHDs) are involved in various aspects of the endocytic process, primarily via protein-protein interactions. Here, we characterize endocytosis and signalling occurring during plant defense responses induced by elicitors, focusing particularly on EIX (ethylene inducing xylanase) and the involvement of EHD proteins in these processes.