Abstract: Salicylic acid (SA) could inhibit catalase activity, induce rapid lipid peroxidation and PR-1 gene expression of the tobacco ( Nicotiana tabacum L. ) cell culture which was incubated with exogenous SA. Ρ-ihydroxybenzene and H2O2 could also induce lipid peroxidation and PR-1 gene expression at different level, but they were not able to inhibit the catalase activity of tobacco cells. Inhi0itors of mRNA and protein-synthesis (a-amanitine and cycloheximide, respectively) could not induce both lipid peroxidation and PR-1 gene expression of tobacco cell culture. However, coordinated action with SA respectively, a-amanitine or cycloheximide was able to induce lipid peroxidation effectively, but strongly blocked the activation of PR-1 gene expression by SA in tobacco cell culture. These results suggested that the generation of reactive metabolites or free radicals, which were induced by SA or other inducers through reaction with catalase or other compounds, initiated lipid peroxidation, subsequently activated pathogen-resistance genes expression. Obviously the lipid peroxidation molecule played an important role in SA signal transduction in tobacco.

Key words: Tobacco, Salicylic acid, Lipid peroxidation, Defense gene