Phys.Org
In plants, the jasmonate, or JA, signaling pathway helps plants control their defense responses to environmental stresses. Like the human body, plants respond differently to individual threats. Just as people wouldn't get a fever due to a sprained ankle, plants deal with harmful elements in particular ways.
A study from the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory (PRL) Howe lab looks at how plants respond to environmental threats in the correct way. This study was published in New Phytologist.
"Plants encounter so many environmental stressors, including biotic stressors like pathogens or insects," said Leah Johnson, co-first author on the study and former graduate student in the Howe lab. "It can be really energy intensive for them to produce all these defense responses."
Researchers have known that the JA signaling pathway controls defense responses for some time, but they were still seeking to understand how appropriate plant responses to different threats can be turned on or off as needed. JAZ and MYC proteins were known to have opposing effects on this pathway: JAZs keep the pathway off and the MYCs can turn the pathway on. Mos
Read on: https://phys.org/news/2023-09-environmental-threats-proper-defense.html