Dying Plants Have a "Deathbed Rally"
Did you know plants have one last revival before they say goodbye forever? This “deathbed rally,” is the mysterious perk-up organisms display in the moments before death, in which Duke researchers have discovered many diseased plant cells engage in. This end-of-life surge serves an important purpose: it actually helps the rest of the plant stay healthy, says Duke biology professor Xinnian Dong. More than 15% of the crops we rely on for food -- such as wheat, rice and corn -- are lost to plant pathogens such as fungi and bacteria, costing $220 billion each year. Luckily plants have a built-in defense system to help them fight off diseases. When a plant senses that it’s under attack by microbial invaders, cells at the infection site sacrifice themselves to keep the disease from spreading to other tissues.
This research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).