Just as humans get infected by a bacterium, so too do plants get infected. But until the plants do not show any external appearance, one cannot easily find out whether the plant has got an infection or not. This causes great damage to plants and crops. But now a great achievement has been achieved in the direction of protecting plants and crops from diseases. Researchers have discovered a new and unusual enzyme that plays an important role to infect plants. And if that enzyme is inactivated, the plants can be effectively protected from infection. According to this research published in the journal Science, the deactivation of this enzyme can prevent the loss of crops.
Found a new enzyme
Scientists have now got a chance to develop such technology and equipment, which pathogens can be prevented from infecting by piercing the plant wall. A family of enzymes found in micro-organisms is called Phytophthora infection. This enzyme helps microbes to weaken the layer of pectin found on plant cell walls. Due to which the microbes break through the cell wall and enter and infect the plants. Pectin is a component found in plant cell walls. It is composed up of acidic sugar-containing backbones with neutral sugar-containing side chains.
An international team, under the leadership of biologists and scientific researchers from the University of Yak, has discovered a new class of enzymes that attack pectin. Researchers have named that LPMOS. The team of researchers has said that if the gene that encodes this enzyme is inactivated, it will be easier to protect the plant from infection. And the germs will not be able to infect the plants.
Even after so much progress in horticulture and technology, even today, many crops are destroyed due to infection in crops. In some places, there is also the danger of starvation. It is considered a serious problem in food security.
Helpful in protecting crops
In the midst of such a serious problem, the discovery of this new enzyme can prove to be very important. The discovery could lead to a way to protect crops from infection by a major group of pathogens. Biology researchers of the University of yak, and the lead author of this study, Dr. Federico Sabadini, says- this new enzyme could be helpful in effectively protecting crops from all major types of pathogens.
This research has been confirmed, only it has to be used so that the damage caused to the crops in the villages can be stopped. There is too much loss of crops to the farmers of the village. The people in the village neither have that much knowledge nor any kind of facility. Farmers also have to spend thousands of rupees to save the crops from getting infected. The discovery of this enzyme can be of financial help to the farmers.
At present, this research is international, but soon its benefits will be available to people all over the world. This will help people to avoid situations like starvation after the loss of crops. It is hoped that while taking this research forward, work will be done in this direction soon.