Fungal pathogen disables plant defence

摘要

Cabbage plants defend themselves against herbivores and pathogens by deploying a defensive mechanism called the mustard oil bomb: when the plant tissue is damaged, toxic isothi-ocyanates are formed and can effectively fend off attackers. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology and the University of Pretoria have now been able to show in a new study that this defence is also effective to some extent against the widespread and detrimental fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum.