Tobacco Plants Send Chemical Warning When Attacked by Virus
From Times staff and wire reports
A tobacco plant under attack from a virus gives off a chemical vapor that warns its neighbors, “Look out for the germs!” New Jersey researchers report in the Feb. 20 issue of the journal Nature. Experts said the finding is the first demonstration that plants can send an airborne warning of disease to other plants. Scientists have known for some time that plants can put out such signals about insects.
In lab experiments, tobacco plants gave off a vapor when attacked by a virus. When healthy tobacco plants were exposed to that vapor, they rallied their anti-virus defenses. Other crops may communicate in the same way, said biologist Ilya Raskin of Rutgers University. The research might lead to a new generation of pesticides, Raskin said.
