Similarities Between Endocannabinoid Signaling in Animal Systems and N-Acylethanolamine Metabolism in Plants - Communication in Plants: Neuronal Aspects of Plant Life - page 216

14.5
Conclusions and Future Prospects

Since the discovery of anandamide as an endogenous neurotransmitter,
there has been unprecedented progress in our understanding of NAE sig-
naling in animals. As a result of these discoveries, new drugs have been
designed that could potentially be used to treat medical conditions re-
sulting from compromised endocannabinoid signaling (De Fonseca et al.
2005). Although plant NAE research is still in its infancy, it appears that
plants share many important features of animal endocannabinoid signal-
ing (Fig. 14.2). For example, the accumulation of NAEs during pathogen
elicitation and anoxic stress parallels the elevation of NAEs seen in mam-
malian cells undergoing neurological degeneration. Also there is evidence
that plants, like animals, metabolize NAEs via amidohydrolase and LOX
pathways. Finally, perception of NAE in plants may be facilitated by trans-
membrane proteins that could function in a manner analogous to the CB
receptors in mammals. We anticipate that studies in this historically un-
derpopulated field would be bolstered by new approaches such as lipid
metabolic profiling (Saghatelian et al. 2004) and the more traditional for-
ward/reverse genetic techniques to alter specific steps in NAE metabolism
and perception. Moreover, the combination of sensitive quantitative pro-
cedures for endogenous NAE metabolites along with the identification of
conditions that influence NAE accumulation should remain an important
area of focus in the future.

Acknowledgements. NAE research in the authors' laboratories is supported
by DOE (grant DE-FG02-05ER15647), USDA (grant NRICGP-99-35304-
8002), the Noble Foundation and in part by NSF (grant DBI-0400580). We
thankCharleneCaseforpreparingthefigures.

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