Plants to be vaccinated against viruses
Just like animals and humans, plants are often attacked by viruses, and the results can severely damage agricultural crops. Scientists from the MLU university in Germany have invented a plant vaccination method that can improve plants’ natural defences against viruses.
The plants’ normal defence uses enzymes that function like small scissors, cutting the RNA molecules of the virus into pieces. The tiny fragments of RNA are subsequently linked with special proteins that use them to identify the attacking virus, so the plant can improve its counterattack.
Unfortunately, the plant’s strategy is not always efficient, as not all RNA fragments are equally effective in this way; indeed only a handful among thousands of pieces achieve the desired result. In the lab, scientists mimicked a virus attack on plant cells and identified the RNA fragments that functioned the best. Subsequently, they used those to vaccinate tobacco plants, spraying them onto plant leaves. Later, when the plants were subjected to an attack by the same virus, 90% of them could combat the enemy effectively. The new result is particularly promising because while current gene modification methods can make plants immune to specific viruses, those methods lose effect when the viruses mutate. The new technique allows quick production and adjustment of targeted vaccines against different viruses.
A VACCINE is a method for improving the immune system, so it becomes better at identifying and defeating an attacking microbe.