Plants use a molecular clock to predict when they’ll be infected

Plants are unable to maintain a high level of resistance to infection 24/7. Fungal infection appears more likely to occur at dawn Plants use their molecular clock to raise resistance levels before dawn in anticipation of infection Molecular clock and immune system found to be connected by a single protein Plants are able to predict when infections are more likely to occur and regulate their immune response accordingly, new research has found. Led by the University of Warwick, the researchers discovered that a plants' molecular clock is connected to their immune system to increase levels of resistance to infection at dawn - the time at which fungal infections appear most likely to occur, with plants unable to maintain the highest level of resistance at all times of day. The researchers identified a single protein, JAZ6, in the plant cell which drives this time-of-day difference in the effectiveness of the immune response, with it connecting the plant clock to the immune system. Arguing that they can now use JAZ6 to pick out the key parts of the plant immune response controlling resistance to fungal pathogens, the researchers say they can now focus on how to improve disease resistance in crops by molecular breeding. Whilst previous research had shown that resistance against bacterial pathogens varied at different times of the day the new research has for the first time shown that the same is true for resistance against a fungal pathogen. The University of Warwick's new research is also the first to identify a mechanism of how the internal plant clock is driving the difference in plant immunity at dawn and night.