An international team of researchers has taken an inventory of the monitoring tools that are used by plants to detect harmful microbes. This catalog represents a major step forward in understanding plant biology and has important implications for the improved management of dangerous crop diseases. 

Just like animals, plants depend on their immune systems for protection against pathogenic microbes such as bacteria and fungi. Proteins called Nucleotide-binding Leucine-rich Repeat receptors (NLRs) coordinate efforts to detect the ever-changing variety of microbes present in the plant’s environment.

The team set out to identify the full spectrum of NLRs produced by plants and to investigate how much these receptors vary within a typical plant species. The study was focused on Arabidopsis plants, which come under attack by pathogenic organisms of all types.

Read on: https://www.earth.com/news/inventory-plant-defense-crop-diseases/