Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

What happens when microbes, or pathogens, invade plant cells? Do they target the cytoplasm, mitochondria, or nucleus? Also, do the plants get "sick" because these pathogens destroy the genetic information of these plants?

Hi,

This is a great question. Plant pathogens have a variety of mechanisms to cause disease. Fungal and bacterial pathogens will generally break down the plant cell wall to access the nutrient inside the plant; viral pathogens will enter the plant cell using specific receptors and then use the plant’s resources to manufacture more copies of the virus. The study of plant diseases is a fascinating area of study called plant pathology. The Wikipedia article includes a good summary of this topic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_pathology

Are you planning to do a science fair project on a plant disease? If so, you need to narrow your project down to one disease and one carefully controlled experiment. What were you thinking about doing? If you are still trying to decide, here is an example of a project on grown gall from the Science Buddies website. This disease is interesting because the bacterium, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, introduces its DNA into the plant DNA and causes tumors.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p024.shtml

Here’s another project on control of whitefly infestations. These insects can transmit plant viruses and facilitate the growth of fungal pathogens on plants.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... =Parents4H

Please let us know if you need more help on your science project.


Donna Hardy

Thanks! See, I was thinking if these viral pathogens, or other pathogens, destroy the DNA and amino acid sequence of the plant, then by regenerating new amino acids (by Urey and Miller's experiment) and introducing it into the plant (via injection or feed) the plant's health can be replenished. It's a crazy idea I had in mind and I don't know if it's possible.

Hi,

I cannot find any research papers on using amino acids to treat plant diseases. Generally for a science project, it better to select a topic that is based on scientific principles. If you are interested in studying plant diseases, then I would recommend identifying one specific disease and then doing an experiment that would show how to prevent the disease, or perhaps cure it after it was established. But, you would need to do a literature search so you would know what has been tried in the past and find out what you could do in a future experiment. There are a large number of viral, fungal, and bacterial diseases you could investigate. Does this sound like something you would be interested in doing? If not, then I would recommend that you read through the 100's of project ideas on the Science Buddies website and try to identify another possible project.


Donna Hardy