Methods for analysis of disease resistance and the defense response in Arabidopsis

Many G proteins are involved in the plant defense responses against pathogen infection. With Arabidopsis as a model, this chapter describes the protocols commonly used for inoculating plants with Pseudomonas syringae (a bacterial pathogen) and Botrytis cinerea (a fungal pathogen) for analyzing disease resistance phenotypes caused by these pathogens. In addition, the procedures are provided for observation of the hypersensitive response triggered by avirulent strains of P. syringae and for analyzing pathogen-responsive gene expression and MAPK activation.