The immune system amazed me when I first learned about it. How intriguing is it that our body is able to recognize, target and attack danger without harming what’s benign? One little failure in the immune system can prove catastrophic. It can lead to letting an invader win or allowing an autoimmune disorder to prevail. The accuracy of building this efficient system fascinates me. How can proteins be so specific?

Proteins are critical for plants’ protection. A recent study from the combined efforts of the University of Amsterdam, the Wageningen University and the Research Centre identified protein domains that determine immune responses in plants. They call these ‘multi domain receptors’. Multi domain receptors are in charge of both recognition of foreign invaders and of triggering a destruction response. When a foreign invader is recognized, it causes other proteins in the complex to change conformation resulting in an immune response.

If any one of the proteins in this complex is mutated, an autoimmune condition called ‘paranoid plants’ results. Under this condition, plants begin to recognize their own cells as invaders and destroy them. The ability to differentiate self from non-self is lost.

Once the invader is removed in normal plants, the protein conformation returns to the inactive state. However, in paranoid autoimmune plants, the protein domain is constantly active- it continues to destroy the plant’s own cells and ultimately kills the plant. The identification of these domains can be used to protect crop plants from infection and disease.

Researchers also believe that this study can be used in the future to better understand similar complexes found in humans and other animals, especially vertebrates.

Discussion Question: How might the plant condition “paranoid plants” be similar or different from human autoimmune disorders?
News Article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090519075424.htm

Research Article: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/324/5928/744