Plant Defense

Mechanical Defense Against Herbivores

• Plants have evolved strategies to defend against two major types of enemies: herbivores,
or animals that eat plants, and pathogens.
• Plants hold within their cells the source of energy that feeds all the consumers in an area;
other than occasionally offering fruits and nectar, however, many plants defend vigorously
against being eaten by herbivores.
• Some defense mechanisms in plants function mechanically-clearly, animals would tend to
avoid sharp spines and thorns when selecting a plant to eat.

Principles of Biology
Plant Defense
Figure 1 Barrel Cactus thorns.

Not many animals look at this mass of spines and

consider eating this plant. Notice how much more
friendly the flowers appear, as the plant attracts
pollinators.

Principles of Biology
Plant Defense
Figure 2 Teasel plant defense.

This plant holds paired leaves at high

angles to collect water at the base.
Crawling insects have a difficult time
getting past the water in the moat-like
structure to reach the leaves and either
retreat or drown.

Principles of Biology
Plant Defense

Chemical Defense Against Herbivores

• Many plants use nonspecific chemical weapons that not only protect plants, but also affect
animals in complex and surprising ways.
• A major group of plant defense chemicals, called alkaloids, have potent effects on
physiological processes in mammals.
• Some alkaloids mimic the chemical structure of neurotransmitters and can significantly
alter neural activity.
• Several medicines have been derived from alkaloid plant compounds, including painkillers
such as morphine and cocaine.

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Plant Defense

Some plant chemicals coordinate symbiotically with other

organisms.
• A voracious caterpillar chews a maize plant to bits. The combination of leaf damage and a
chemical in the saliva from the caterpillar triggers a signaling pathway in the leaf to
produce and release a chemical into the air.
• The chemical compound released by maize leaves attracts parasitoid wasps. Parasitoid
insects lay eggs in or on the bodies of other insects. When the eggs hatch, the young
larvae feed on these host insects.

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Plant Defense
Figure 3 Plant and parasitoid relationship.

Plants have evolved to produce

chemicals that attract parasitoid insects
to attack herbivores eating the plant.

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Plant Defense

Some plants defend through communication with each other.

• Several plant species release chemicals into the air when being eaten or invaded.
• Plants of the same species growing near a threatened plant recognize the signal and
respond by producing compounds to protect themselves and also pass the message along
to neighboring plants.
• Some plant species such as strawberries and clover are physically connected to each
other. They grow close to the ground and propagate new plants from ground-hugging
runners.
• Like wires connecting computers, the runners produced by strawberry and clover plants
allow a pathway for chemical signals to travel quickly between plants.

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Plant Defense

Defense Against Pathogens

• Plants have several protections against infection, starting with waxy, thick, outer layers
surrounding leaves and stems, much like skin surrounds the bodies of animals.
• Damage from wind and herbivores can expose the interior of a plant to microbial intruders.
• Pathogens are generally described according to the effect they have on a plant.
• A virulent pathogen is one against which a plant has no directed defense, so the plant dies
soon after infection.
• An avirulent pathogen can interfere with the growth and development of a plant without
killing it.
• Plant viruses are classified based on the type of genetic information they carry-either DNA
or RNA-and are commonly transported to plants by insects.

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Plant Defense
Figure 4 Virus-infected wheat.

Yellowing leaves indicate viral infection

in a wheat plant.

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Plant Defense

Defense Against Pathogens

• If a plant has the appropriate (R) gene, the effector triggers the defensive machinery and
the pathogen is disabled.
• Plant defense systems can be localized to the infected site or they can be systemic,
treating the entire organism.
• One pathogenic resistance mechanism in plants is called gene-for-gene recognition.
• Gene-for-gene recognition enables a plant to recognize pathogenic molecules, called
effectors, using special resistance (R) genes.

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Plant Defense

Internal plant defensive systems against pathogens can be

localized and systemic.
• For humans, eliminating a body part is usually not a viable option in fighting a pathogen;
for plants, losing a few leaves usually does no major long-term damage.
• A hypersensitive response in plants kills cells and tissues in and around the site of an
infection.

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Plant Defense
Figure 5 Hypersensitive response.

The leaf on the right used a

hypersensitive response to a viral
infection. By containing the infection in a
single leaf, the virus could not infect the
entire plant. To use this mechanism, this
plant must have had the appropriate
resistance gene to recognize and
respond quickly to the virus.

Principles of Biology
Plant Defense

Internal plant defensive systems against pathogens can be

localized and systemic.
As part of the hypersensitive response, the responding cells produce signal molecules that
alert the entire plant of the infection, triggering systemic acquired resistance, a level of
defense involving the whole organism.

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