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Question of the Week / Re: QotW - 09.09.06 - Do plants have immunity?
« on: 04/08/2009 17:54:08 »
Completely unqualified answer:
Yes and no.
Plants do have an immune system though not like our own and it is far from perfect so they do not have immunity to everything.
A plant's immune system is usually one of two types: (for lack of enough knowledge, I am making these terms up) Defensive and non-reactive.
Defenseive is slightly similar to our own immune system in that it destroys the infecting bacteria etc. but it generally does not do it in a targeted way like our immune system does. The plant's defenses are often a chemical or physical element that makes it hostile to the invading baddies. This is often accomplished by poisons.
In a non-reactive immunity, a plant will prevent infection by not having the receptors or features that make it infectable. Many viruses, bacteria, and the like require specific receptors to bond to to infect the cells. By eliminating those or not having them in the first place, a plant can be immune to those specific baddies.
Yes and no.
Plants do have an immune system though not like our own and it is far from perfect so they do not have immunity to everything.
A plant's immune system is usually one of two types: (for lack of enough knowledge, I am making these terms up) Defensive and non-reactive.
Defenseive is slightly similar to our own immune system in that it destroys the infecting bacteria etc. but it generally does not do it in a targeted way like our immune system does. The plant's defenses are often a chemical or physical element that makes it hostile to the invading baddies. This is often accomplished by poisons.
In a non-reactive immunity, a plant will prevent infection by not having the receptors or features that make it infectable. Many viruses, bacteria, and the like require specific receptors to bond to to infect the cells. By eliminating those or not having them in the first place, a plant can be immune to those specific baddies.