When growth-phase cell suspension cultures of Capsicum annuum were treated with cellulase-elicitor preparation at 3 mu g/ml, the level of capsidiol was transiently increased in the culture media rather than in the cells reaching its maximum approx 24 h after treatment. With methyl jasmonate it took 18 h. Elicitor treatment doubled phospholiphase A(2) (PLA(2)) activity but simultaneous treatment with aristolochic acid, a PLA(2) inhibitor, inhibited sesquiterpenoid accumulation as well as PLA(2) activity. Mastoparan, a G protein activator, treatment also increased PLA(2) activity and capsidiol production. Taken together, the present study shows that induction of capsidiol production in the C. annuum is mediated by PLA(2) activation.