Trees can also turn into

For the first time, scientists have discovered how parasitic bacteria can turn plants into living corpses, like in animals.

A parasitic bacterium called phytoplasmas has hijacked the reproductive organs of the plant, sterilizing the host so that the plant is still alive, but only to benefit the pathogen. Thus, phytoplasmas have turned their parasitic plants into "living corpses".

Previously, researchers had discovered other parasites poisoning and controlling ants' brains, or making mice more likely to be eaten.

"We used to know these parasites were the puppet controllers, but they still didn't recognize their twisting methods. For the first time, we could reveal this terrifying manipulation in plants. " Professor Saskia Hogenhout of John Innes Center in Norwich, England, said.

The phytoplasmas parasite in Ms. Hogenhout's study controlled the host to turn flowers into leaves, sacrificing fertility and becoming dependent on their existence. Flowers turned into leaves attracted the hoppers and spread the parasites further.

Specifically, when the hoppers feed on leaves because the flowers change into, the bacteria will penetrate it, including the salivary glands. If small insects while gnawing on other plants, the parasite can spread to new plant tissue and begin to repeat the process of manipulating the plant.

Together with scientists from Wageningen University (Netherlands), Professor Hogenhout and his colleagues discovered that phytoplasmas produced a protein called SAP54 that is essential for turning host plants. into "living corpses". SAP54 protein depends on a family of plant proteins called RAD23 .

Currently, people are using insecticides to inhibit phytoplasmas "dreadful, monster-making". This is because their ability to turn plants into "corpses" can affect crops, including corn, wheat, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, vegetables and grapes.

Professor Hogenhout hopes, her findings and colleagues could lead to the introduction of new ways to control parasitic bacteria without the use of insecticidal chemicals, by breaking down two SAP54 proteins and RAD23.