Great mystery of a plant defence pathway unravelled
Monday, June 3, 2013 - 06:30
in Biology & Nature
(Phys.org) —Together with several partners, scientists from Wageningen UR (University & Research centre) have discovered that RLP-receptors located at the outside of plant cells and playing an important role in plant defence, join forces with other proteins present at the same location to warn the plant when a fungus attacks. This finally answers a question that has been haunting several plant scientists around the world for many years. The findings provide new leads for breeding crops with an improved defence against diseases caused by pathogenic microbes.