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I read with interest this article from Science Daily, which discusses immune issues in plants. An over-active immune system in plants decreases their productivity and seed production.
"The immune system provides plants with strong protection from pathogens," said Walter Gassmann, associate professor of plant sciences in the MU Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center and the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. "However, this response has the potential to be highly deleterious to the plant and needs to be tightly controlled. Certain suppressors protect the plant from responding to harmless stimuli and from overreacting to pathogens. If there is a mutation in these suppressors, the immune system can actually do more damage than good."
Hmm. "the immune system can actually do more damage than good.."
Where have I heard that before?
3 comments:
Very interesting!
Ha, that all has a familiar ring to it! I admit caving for tube tanning too. But it is a bit 'orangey', so I've decided to use it sparingly--just once a week or so, and only on my arms and legs. Just enough to mute the glaring, ghastly white. For my face, only gentle mineral makeup. It hasn't set off any kind of a reaction--not on my skin and, come to think of it, not from any concerned friends either...yet!
Oops, how did that happen. Meant to put that last comment under the Orange Mocha blog. Please chalk it up to my pre-coffee 'fog'...
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