Mystery solved: How do tips of plants stay virus-free? (VIDEO)
Caption
Stem cells at the tips of plants have been known to keep viruses away from this region, even as an infection ravages the rest of the plant. Quite how this happens has long been something of a mystery to scientists. Until now. Researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) have offered new insights into this incredible ability in a new study published on Oct 8th in Science. They found surprisingly that the WUSCHEL proteins worked to inhibit production of viral proteins. The researchers are interested in seeing "whether this strategy can be applied in breeding to obtain broad-spectrum antiviral crop varieties in the future" says Zhong Zhao, paper author and a professor from the School of Life Science at USTC.
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News Center of University of Science and Technology of China
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