plant defenses

The University of Nebraska–Lincoln entomologist wants to help pave the way for creating environmentally friendly tools to replace insecticides to control agricultural pests.

This caterpillar secretes acid to get past the defenses of the plant on which it preys.

An entrepreneurial attitude helped this Vienna-based researcher begin to unravel the complex receptor network that Arabidopsis uses to develop and defend itself.

After a harrowing escape from Iran, Dehesh never shied away from difficult choices to pursue a career in plant biology.

Plants are locked in an ancient arms race with hostile viruses, but genome editing is giving crops the upper hand.

It has become increasingly evident that, like animals, plants are not autonomous organisms but rather are populated by a cornucopia of diverse microorganisms.

Herbivores may take to omnivory and eat conspecifics when the plants they feed on produce unsavory protective chemicals.

A survey of plant genomes reveals how different species trick pathogens into triggering their immune defenses.

Caffeinated nectar makes bees more loyal to a food source, even when foraging there is suboptimal.

Study finds that ribwort plants in well-connected populations fare better when exposed to a fungal pathogen than those in isolated patches.
 

Plant biology: You can't make this stuff up.

The crop-destroying gray mold fungus uses RNA weapons to disable plant defenses and invade.

Researchers identify a structure in plants responsible for the production of tannins.

Two genes from wild relatives of wheat could save domestic wheat from fungal destruction.

Symbiotic fungi on the roots of bean plants can act as an underground signaling network, transmitting early warnings of impending aphid attacks.
 

Doctors turn to good microbes to fight disease. Will the same strategy work with crops?

Plants’ circadian clocks help them gear for attack by herbivores.