PestNet: Grahame Jackson posted a new submission ‘Bacteria and plants fight alike ‘
Submission
Bacteria and plants fight alike
Phys.Org
Bacteria and plants fight alike
by Weizmann Institute of Science
by Weizmann Institute of Science
A brown blotch on a plant leaf may be a sign that the plant’s defenses are hard at work: When a plant is infected by a virus, fungus or bacterium, its immune response keeps the disease from spreading by killing the infected cell, as well as a few surrounding ones. A new study at the Weizmann Institute of Science points to the evolutionary origins of this plant immune mechanism. The study may help explain how major plant defenses work and how they may one day be strengthened to increase resilience against plant diseases that each year cause billions of dollars of crop losses worldwide.
About two years ago, scientists in the United States and Australia discovered that when a plant’s immune system kills infected cells to contain disease, this action involves a protein with a segment called TIR that produces a certain signal molecule. In a new study led by Prof. Rotem Sorek of Weizmann’s Molecular Genetics Department and Dr. Gal Ofir, then a graduate student, Sorek’s team has revealed that bacteria also use TIR as an immune mechanism, and that TIR achieves immunity in plants and bacteria in similar ways.
Global Plant Protection News 
Leave a Reply