THE cell suicide mechanism known as apoptosis, which protects vertebrates against cancer and infections, also keeps plants healthy. Scientists in California have found that apoptosis triggers "hypersensitive reactions" in disease-resistant plants, in which the first cells invaded by microorganisms die and lock the invader in a cage of dead tissue.
A resistant cell that comes under attack by a fungus or bacterium emits a burst of hydrogen peroxide, which tells nearby cells to toughen their walls and begin producing antibiotic compounds. But Chris Lamb and colleagues at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla have shown that this signal has a second effect: when resistant soya bean plants are attacked by the bacterium
In mammals, an influx of calcium triggers apoptosis, and it seems to have the same effect ...
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