The Arabidopsis dnd1 "defense, no death" gene encodes a mutated cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channel

Gene-for-gene disease resistance typically includes a programmed cell death response known as the hypersensitive response (HR). The Arabidopsis thaliana dnd1 mutant was previously isolated as a line that failed to produce the HR in response to avirulent Pseudomonas syringae pathogens; plants homozygous for the recessive dnd1-1 mutation still carry out effective gene-for-gene resistance. The dnd1-1 mutation also causes constitutive systemic resistance and elevated levels of salicylic acid. In the present study, a positional cloning approach was used to isolate DND1. DND1 encodes the same protein as AtCNGC2, a cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channel of previously unknown organismal function that can allow passage of Ca(2+), K(+) and other cations [Leng, Q., Mercier, R. W., Yao, W. & Berkowitz, G. A. (1999) Plant Physiol. 121, 753-761]. By using a nahG transgene, we found that salicylic acid is required for the elevated resistance caused by the dnd1 mutation but that removal of salicylic acid did not completely eliminate the dwarf and loss-of-HR phenotypes of mutant dnd1 plants. A stop codon that would severely truncate the DND1 gene product was identified in the dnd1-1 allele. This demonstrates that broad-spectrum disease resistance and inhibition of the HR can be activated in plants by disruption of a cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channel.