Plants trick bacteria into "false starts"

[Plazma Inferno!]

Researchers have finally identified one of the protective compounds plants use to trick bacteria into attacking too soon. The name of that compund is rosmarinic acid. It is a plant’s secret weapon for disarming bacteria, by mimicking a molecule that bacteria use to signal each other in response to changes in population density. The compound fools bacteria into sending signals to their peers to invade a plant before the microbes have enough troops, so the plant can fight them off, the scientists speculate.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/plants-trick-bacteria-attacking-too-soon?

Paper: http://stke.sciencemag.org/content/9/409/ra1

 

[Write4U]

Have you ever studied the concept that plants and trees can and do communicate?

Two studies published in 1983 demonstrated that willow trees, poplars and sugar maples can warn each other about insect attacks: Intact, undamaged trees near ones that are infested with hungry bugs begin pumping out bug-repelling chemicals to ward off attack. They somehow know what their neighbors are experiencing, and react to it. The mind-bending implication was that brainless trees could send, receive and interpret messages.

http://www.wired.com/2013/12/secret-language-of-plants/