Breakthrough made in understanding plant reaction to toxins: study

LJUBLJANA, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Slovenian scientists have jointly with other foreigners made a breakthrough in understanding why certain plants are sensitive to microbial toxins, a discovery paving the way for the development of pesticides that could prevent rot and blight in major cash crops such as potatoes.

Their paper was published on Friday in the Science magazine, a peer-reviewed academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The discovery was made, in conjunction with Germany's University of Tubingen, by Slovenia's National Institute of Chemistry researchers Tea Lenarcic and Vesna Hodnik, who are co-lead authors of the paper, according to the Slovenian Press Agency (STA).

The researchers were able to precisely determine what exactly happens in the first step, when microbial toxins known as NLP proteins, come into contact with plant cells, the STA report wrote.

They discovered a receptor on the surface of plant cells to which NLP proteins bind, and they were able to determine why only dicots such as potato and soy are sensitive to NLP proteins whereas monocots such as grains are not.

Now that this mechanism is clear, researchers will likely be able to develop molecules that inhibit these proteins and could be used in pesticides, said institute's director Gregor Anderluh.

The study involves 25 scientists from six countries, including eight from the institute and the University of Ljubljana's Biotechnical Faculty, according to STA. Enditem