Wheat Plants Which Overexpress a Maize Methyltransferase Gene (IMAGE)

Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology

Wheat Plants Which Overexpress a Maize Methyltransferase Gene

Caption

Wheat plants which overexpress a maize methyltransferase gene cannot regulate their defense adequately and become susceptible to aphid attack. The switch, which either turns benzoxazinoids into highly effective toxins against caterpillars or allows plants to regulate defensive processes in a less toxic form by inhibiting sap-sucking insects, has evolved independently in wheat and maize.

Credit

Beibei Li / University of Bern, Switzerland

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