Rice Plants Fight Invading Pathogens, Study

Not all plants can fight pathogens, but rice plants are toughies, as a model called the "gene-for-gene" hypothesis developed by scientist Harold Henry Flor shows.

A detailed model of the theory has been created by new research from the John Innes Center in the UK, showing how a plant can sense pathogens, writes Nature World News.

"We know that plants have sensors to detect pathogens but we knew little about how they work," Professor Banfield, lead researcher from the John Innes Centre (UK) said.

New research is examining how a sensor protein found in rice (called Pik) is able to bind with AVR-Pik, another protein from the rice blast pathogen, which is a fungus that devastates rice plants.

The team thus used the X-ray crystallography facilities at Diamond Light Source in Oxfordshire, to locate points of contact between the plant and pathogen proteins at the molecular level. Hence, for the first time, imagery has been undertaken for plant as well as pathogen proteins with the help of the gene-for-gene model.

"Harold Flor predicted that plant sensors discriminate between different pathogen types, but at the time he had no knowledge of the molecules involved. It is remarkable that his ideas have now crystallized into detailed molecular models," said first author of the study, Dr. Abbas Maqbool.

How strongly the Pik sensor and the pathogen AVR-Pik protein bond also affects the strength of the plants, hence, the responses can be "engineered" to ward off the pathogen invaders.

"Once we understand how these plant sensors detect invading pathogens, we can devise strategies to 'boost' the plant immune system and help protect rice and other important food crops from disease," Professor Banfield said.

The study was published in eLife.