Chinese biologist Chai Jijie cracks plant immune system puzzle
- The former paper mill worker was part of a global team of researchers whose findings could transform food production yields
Chai, a former paper mill worker and now a professor with the school of life sciences at Westlake University in China’s Zhejiang province, was part of a global team that has unravelled the secrets of how plants defend themselves from attack.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that between 20 and 40 per cent of global crop production is lost each year because of plant pests and microbial pathogen infections.
According to the paper, the scientists found their first clue in tomatoes, which feature a class of proteins that behave differently from those found in the immune systems of other plants.
Most plants have two lines of immune defence – one on the surface of its cells and another inside them, dominated by a disease-resistant protein called NLR.