Unraveling plant reactions to injury
Friday, May 27, 2011 - 10:31
in Biology & Nature
Better understanding of plant defense systems, and the potential to generate stress-tolerant plants and even new malaria drugs, may all stem from the documentation of a molecular mechanism that plays a significant role in the response of plants to physical injuries, such as cuts. A team of agricultural researchers in Japan, led by Fuminori Takahashi of the RIKEN Plant Science Center in Tsukuba, found that the key protein in the complex mechanism is MPK8, which is fully activated by two signaling pathways working in concert.