The Importance Of Plant Pathogens

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Plants like many eukaryotic composed organisms have the ability to detect and protect themselves against microorganisms known as pathogens. Plant fossils have recorded that land plant’s existence was established 480 million years ago, but molecularly, plant evolution began 700 million years ago. Molecular interaction with microbes and other organisms gave the shape and structure of plants, giving us an idea that microbes also evolve according to its host. Plants lack mobility depriving themselves from a somatic secondary immune response like many mammals giving pathogens the ability to easily attack. Pathogenic microbes can access plants by penetrating through the leaves, entering through plant wounds, or by using the stomata a natural pore on plants that opens and closes for gas exchange. To detect and stop from extensive damage from microbes, plants developed an immune system through its structure, chemicals, and defense proteins. Plants have …show more content…

NB-LRRs inhibit pathogen growth through a programmed cell death at the site of infection known as hypersensitive response (HR). The activation of NB-LRR activates metcaspase-1 proteins through MAP Kinases which alter the chloroplast. The chloroplast has the main role in activating HR in plants. It expresses reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen oxide intermediates (NOI) defense signal molecules, including salicylic acid (SA) and jasmonic acid (JA) which are defense hormones used to activate HR. The production of ROS and a rapid ion reflux across the plasma membrane causes an uptake of calcium oxidizing NADPH. The alteration of calcium levels in the cell causes chloroplast disruption, chromatin condensation, swelling of the mitochondria and vacuoles, and shrinkage of the cytoplasm. The dead cells were the infected ones inhibiting pathogen growth to save the rest of the

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