Got Nature? Blog

Most terrestrial plants are sessile. This inability to move forces has brought alternative methods to defend themselves. Typically, plants use three basic mechanisms of defense: avoidance, escape or tolerance. A recent work notes that plants may have evolved a fourth method; where healthy tissue is sacrificed in an effort to confine harmful bacteria to a small portion of the leaf.

Brown spots, if observed on previously unmarred leaves, may result from the plant employing this technique to slow or prevent bacterial spread. Scientists at the Salk Institute have identified a plant enzyme denoted SOBER1 that plants use to seemingly lower their resistance to infection. Future study on the gene may lead to ways to boost natural immunity or contain infections that would otherwise decimate entire agricultural crops and biofuel resources.

Additional experiments involved several model plant species (Arabidopsis, oilseed rape, and tobacco) and evaluated the structure and function of SOBER1 and an immune protein known as AvrBst. The ultimate goal of this work is to understand how bacterial resistance works in plants. The information gained may help identify new methods of improving agricultural and biofuel crop resistance to harmful bacterial infections.

References
A hydrophobic anchor mechanism defines a deacetylase family that suppresses host response against YopJ effectors, Nature Communications, 2017; 8 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02347-w, Marco Bürger, Björn C. Willige, Joanne Chory.
Unusual plant immune response to bacterial infection characterized, ScienceDaily, 8 January 2018, Salk Institute.

Resources
Consumer Horticulture: Fertilizing Woody Plants, The Education Store, Purdue Extension
Shrubs and Woody Vines of Indiana and the Midwest: Identification, Wildlife Values, and Landscaping Use, The Education Store, Purdue Extension

Shaneka Lawson, USDA Forest Service/HTIRC Research Plant Physiologist/Adjunct Assistant Professor
Purdue University Department of Forestry and Natural Resources