It is useful in pest control .. Detection of the molecular mechanism of alarm in the plant

The little Muhammad Western

Scientists have discovered how the "early warning" system works in some plants that enable it to monitor signs of immediate danger and reaction to it. Researchers expect this discovery to open the doors to countless applications in agriculture.

Plants have natural "alarm" systems that operate in response to a specific threat, such as insects that feed on them. Some plants, for example, sense the danger signals from organisms that feed on plants, due to certain chemicals that are released by the insects through the mouth.

This results in the activation of a series of reactions in the plant's defense mechanism, which leads to their development of resistance or "immunity" against the predator. Despite decades of research, how plants have detected signs of danger remains mysterious to this day.

How it works?
In the new study published in the journal "Biomedical Communications" on May 8th, a research team from Japanese academies led by Professor Jin-Ichiro Arimura of the University of Tokyo science highlights how "warning" systems that rely on monitoring of danger signals issued by Insects in plants.

The researchers studied membrane proteins called receptor-like kinases that are found in soybean leaves, and play a role in a wide range of processes including disease resistance.

They based their study on previous evidence from plants such as "Rashad al-Sakhr", tobacco and cowpea, where these proteins play a major role in these "warning" systems.

Professor Scientist says, "Scientists have been trying to understand the molecular mechanism of plant resistance for years, but the sensors involved in identifying plants for insect pests are still unknown. Consequently, we wanted to gain a detailed understanding of these mechanisms."

Initially, scientists focused on the soybean genes that are structurally and functionally similar to the receptor-like kinase gene that is known to trigger a risk-response process within the plant by identifying “polysaccharide polysaccharides” (small carbohydrate molecules) during an attacker attack.

Scientists have speculated that due to these similarities, soybean genes may also show a mechanism similar to that seen in fighting pathogens.

They identified 15 of these genes in soybeans through genetic analysis. Then they produced 15 varieties of "Rashad al-Sakhar", each of which uniquely expresses only one of the 15 soy genes.

When the researchers tested these plants using the oral secretions of some insects, they discovered new genes that showed a specific defensive response to these secretions, called "GmHAK1" and "GmHAK2".

Promising applications
Scientists say their findings are unprecedented, as the role of these genes has not been detected by soybean "warning" systems before. Moreover, when the researchers deepened the risk-response mechanism of the "Rashad al-Sakhr" plant and found two proteins that play a role in intracellular signaling, they also participated in this mechanism.

Consequently, scientists have confirmed what they expected from the start that soybeans and "Rashad al-Sakher" possess similar mechanisms to respond to risk.

The researchers confirm that the results of this study have wide applications in the field of agriculture, where it is important to develop strategies to control pests in crop plants in order to avoid incurring losses.

It represents a huge step in this direction by revealing an important cellular mechanism that leads to a defensive response to plants. The development of the innate cellular "alarm" system of plants may help scientists produce new agricultural products that are resistant to diseases and pests.

Professor Arimora concludes that "it has been difficult to find new effective pest control methods that do not harm the ecosystem in any way. Our study provides a possible solution to this problem by revealing details of how some plants develop to resist."