ИСТИНА

Plants release many volatile organic compounds in response to stress. Among these substances, gaseous methanol, which is formed as a result of demethylation of cell wall pectin by stress-activated pectin methylesterases (PME), plays an important role. Plant-emitted gaseous methanol up-regulates so-called methanol-inducible genes involved in defense reactions in the cell. One of these genes encodes tobacco aldose-1-epimerase-like protein (NbAELP) that was shown to regulate the expression of the PME gene by a feedback mechanism. We assessed the influence of abiotic and biotic factors on the activity of tobacco PME gene promoter (PrPME) and showed that it is stress-sensitive.