davidsyes's Journal: Stressed Plants Make Own Aspirin, Something Humans Can't

Last night while waiting for my bus, I was listening to the BBC and heard something about plants being able to defend themselves and that there defense can be detected in the atmosphere in the immediate vicinity of the stressed plants.

It seems now we know how plants defend themselves in harsh environments infested with bacteria, fungus, predatory insects and other problems. They produce their own "aspirin". It seems this will enable farmers to monitor their crops and predict much more accurately their expected crop yields. They can now more selectively or aggressively yet efficiently deal with problems to avert massive yield failures arising from external problems.

What this study/discovery (see links below) may mean is that bio-pharmaceutical companies and pesticide manufacturers might seem some of their own "yields" reduced as organic farming takes greater hold in India (where Monsanto/Dow-like/-made) chemicals are widely suspected of ruining otherwise viable crops through ruination of the soils and seedlings....)

(Personally, it might be quite nice if we've stumbled upon a mechanism of Nature that is meant to show us (once again) how to live in better harmony with our environment.)

Plants produce aspirin-like chemical
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Plants_produce_aspirin-like_chemical/rssarticleshow/3499950.cms

Aspirin Agent Aids Plants Against Virus
http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/life_sciences/report-27302.html

Study Shows Aspirin Blocks "Plant Pain"
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/08/980806090010.htm

""We all recognise its bitter taste and pain-killing abilities, but the importance of the active ingredient of aspirin, called salicylic acid, is even greater", says Dr John Carr of the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge. "We now know that salicylic acid is used by plants to fend off attacks by viruses, bacteria and fungi".

The parent molecule of aspirin turns out to be made by all plants, not just willow trees and meadowsweet, and is used as an alarm signal when the plant is attacked. The acid acts as a messenger to help mobilise resources from uninfected parts of the plant, resist the microbes and respond even more effectively against further attack.

"Salicylic acid stimulates the plant cells to produce chemical defences called enzymes which directly attack the bacteria and fungal cells, but these defences cannot affect viruses", says Dr Carr. "We have now discovered that salicylic acid triggers three other distinct mechanisms to fight off viruses. It stops the viruses copying themselves, it stops the virus moving through the plant and it triggers a self destruct mechanism in the viruses' genetic material, called RNA". "

[Update: Apparently, two others made submissions to the firehose on this very topic:

http://slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=1184051

http://slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=1183867

]

Yet, no commentary added. Many topics are discussed here on /., yet this one is not? (Yet?)