Plant drought response hormone found to block spider mites

Added on 09 May 2024

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Plant drought response hormone found to block spider mites

Recent findings that plants employ a drought-survival mechanism to also defend against nutrient-sucking pests could inform future crop breeding programs aimed at achieving better broadscale pest control.

Using an advanced fluorescent biosensor (ABACUS2) that can detect tiny changes in plant hormone concentrations at the cellular scale, scientists saw that abscisic acid (ABA), usually linked with drought response, started closing the plant’s entry gates within five hours of being infested with spider mites.