Disclosed are hypersensitive response eliciting peptides that exhibit improved solubility stability resistance to chemical degradation or a combination of these properties. Use of these peptides or fusion polypeptides or DNA constructs encoding the same for modulating plant biochemical signaling imparting disease resistance to plants enhancing plant growth imparting tolerance to biotic stress imparting tolerance and resistance to abiotic stress imparting desiccation resistance to cuttings removed from ornamental plants imparting post harvest disease or post harvest desiccation resistance to a fruit or vegetable or enhancing the longevity of fruit or vegetable ripeness are also disclosed.
