How do plants balance microbial friends and foes?

Plants are constantly exposed to microbes: Pathogens that cause disease, commensals that cause no harm or benefit, and mutualists that promote plant growth or help fend off pathogens. For example, most land plants can form ...

Ants protect acacia plants against pathogens

The biological term "symbiosis" refers to what economists and politicians usually call a win-win situation: a relationship between two partners which is beneficial to both. The mutualistic association between acacia plants ...

Caterpillar deceives corn plant into lowering defenses against it

In a deception that likely has evolved over thousands of years, a caterpillar that feeds on corn leaves induces the plant to turn off its defenses against insect predators, allowing the caterpillar to eat more and grow faster, ...

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