Discovering the secrets of plant defense

truePlant Biology,Plant Research Laboratory11/16/2023Discovering the secrets of plant defense

Researchers from Michigan State University have shed light on the biological puzzle of how plants launch immune responses. Reporting in Nature Communications, the team revealed one protein that plays a key role in mobilizing a plant’s antimicrobial defenses.

Researchers at Michigan State University have discovered a protein that plants use to coordinate defense response to pathogens.
The finding, reported in the journal Nature Communications, could ultimately help researchers develop more productive and resilient crops.
Like humans, plants launch immune responses to threats like fungi, bacteria and other microbes. But the proteins that coordinate these responses and how they work are still largely mysterious to scientists.
In the new report, the MSU team has shown that a protein known as TGNap1 plays a key role in transporting antimicrobial enzymes and other proteins out of plant cells.
The research at Michigan State University was conducted primarily by Deepak Bhandari in a team led by Federica Brandizzi in the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory.

Jamie DePolo

A close-up of a gloved hand injecting a green leaf on a plant with a small syringe.

MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratoryplant biologyplant defenseplant resilience