Receptors carrying built-in decoys are the latest discovery in the evolutionary battle between plants and pathogens. Decoy domains within the receptor detect pathogens and raise the cell’s alarm when there is an infection. Plants display component parts of their immune system on receptors to trick pathogens into binding with them, which then triggers defence mechanisms.
The discovery comes from Professor Jonathan Jones’ group at The Sainsbury Laboratory in the United Kingdom, published in the high-impact journal Cell with a companion paper on a similar discovery from the Deslandes group in Toulouse.
Researchers hope the discovery could lead to bioengineering new receptors carrying decoys to perceive and trigger a defence to virtually any pathogen.
More information is available at: http://www.tsl.ac.uk/news/plant-receptors-built-decoys-make-pathogens-betray/
