Multimedia Gallery
Plant's Systemic Immune Response
Illustration shows the process of a plant's systemic immune response. When a plant is infected by a pathogen, a plant hormone called salicylic acid (SA) activates defenses locally. Some of this SA is converted by an enzyme known as SAMT into an aspirin-like compound, called methyl salicylate (MeSA), which travels to uninfected parts of the plant and thereby activates a plant-wide immune response. But some SA at the infection site binds to an enzyme called salicylic acid binding protein 2 (SABP2). This binding prevents the enzyme from converting SA at the infection site into biologically inactive MeSA.
This image accompanied NSF press release, "Scientists to Sick Plants: Take Two Doses of an Aspirin-Like Hormone and Call Me in the Morning."
Credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation
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