While animals can respond to danger with fight or flight responses, plants can’t flee and have no nervous system, yet a bite on one leaf sets off an alarm that reaches other leaves within minutes.
| Photo Credit: Jyothilakshmi Vadassery/Special arrangement
Researchers at the National Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR) here have identified a previously uncharacterised protein that helps a plant warn undamaged leaves when an insect attacks one of them.
This suggests that plants employ complex defence mechanisms and may have implications for designing crop chemicals under pest attack.
Like other living beings, plants don’t like to be preyed on, by other insects or herbivores. Scientists studying plant defence mechanisms have shown how, when a leaf is chewed, defence systems are activated.
Published – October 30, 2026 09:15 am IST
