Self Defense for Plants
When you see brown spots on otherwise healthy green leaves, you may be witnessing a plant’s immune response as it tries to keep a bacterial infection from spreading. Some plants are more resistant to such infections than others. To explore why, Salk scientists Joanne Chory and co–first authors Marco Bürger and Björn Willige studied a plant protein called SOBER1, which had previously been probed in relation to infection, and discovered that, counterintuitively, SOBER1 rendered plants less resistant to infection. The work, which appeared in Nature Communications on December 29, 2017, sheds light on plant resistance generally and could lead to strategies to boost plants’ natural immunity or to better contain infections that threaten to destroy an entire agricultural crop.
Featured Stories
- To inspire and educate: Salk’s Education Outreach is on a missionMotivated by Jonas Salk’s admonition to “be good ancestors,” Education Outreach strives to inspire the next generation of scientists. By running programs like the Mobile Science Lab or High School Science Day among others, Education Outreach encourages scientific literacy, enthusiasm in science as a career, and awareness of the value of basic research.
- Deepshika Ramanan–From iguana poop to breastmilkRamanan, a new assistant professor and microbiologist by training, made a chance discovery about animal gut bacteria that led to her fascination with breastmilk immunity.
- New strategic plan provides roadmap for enhancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging at SalkGroundbreaking scientific discoveries require talented people behind the scenes, and the more diverse those people are, the more groundbreaking their discoveries. At Salk, improving diversity, equity, and inclusion is a commitment to both scientific discovery and humanity.
- Trinka Adamson–Supporting Salk science through animal careAdamson, senior director of Salk’s Animal Resources Department, works to provide the highest quality veterinary medical care, husbandry, enrichment, and professional technical support to enable our scientists to conduct their animal research and make their bold discoveries.
- Melissa Hernandez–Horses, hot sauce, and human brain researchHernandez, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Professor Rusty Gage, journeyed up and down the west coast and turned from scientist to hot sauce entrepreneur and back before finally settling at Salk to study neuroscience.