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Plants can protect themselves from abiotic stress in many different ways, and most include a physical change in the plant’s morphology. Phenotypic plasticity is a plant’s ability to alter and adapt its morphology in response to the external environments to protect themselves against stress. [ 2 ]
Some of these species produce harmful toxins such as botulinum toxin and tetanus toxin among others. Most Clostridium species that do have toxins typically have binary toxins with the first unit involved in getting the toxin into the cell and the second unit cause cellular stress or deformation. [6]
Plant defense against herbivory or host-plant resistance is a range of adaptations evolved by plants which improve their survival and reproduction by reducing the impact of herbivores. Many plants produce secondary metabolites , known as allelochemicals , that influence the behavior, growth, or survival of herbivores.
The toxins used as defense in species among the poison dart frog can also be used for medicinal purposes; Some of the more well known types of biotoxins include: Cyanotoxins, produced by cyanobacteria; Dinotoxins, produced by dinoflagellates; Necrotoxins cause necrosis (i.e., death) in the cells they encounter. [23]
The term is also used to describe toxic chemicals produced by plants themselves, which function as defensive agents against their predators. Most examples pertaining to this definition of phytotoxin are members of various classes of specialised or secondary metabolites , including alkaloids , terpenes , and especially phenolics , though not all ...
Hence, a plant which produces variable levels of defensive chemicals is better defended than one that always produces the mean level of toxin. [5] Second, synthesizing a continually high level of defensive chemicals renders a cost to the plant. This is particularly the case where the presence of herbivorous insects is not always predictable. [7]
For example, colicins consume nucleic acids of cells by using several enzymes. [18] To prevent such toxicity, host cells produce immunity proteins for binding cytolysins before they do any damage inward. [8] In the second step, cytolysins adhere to target cell membranes by matching the "receptors" on the membranes.
A plant line with acceptable resistance against one pathogen may lack resistance against others. Breeding for resistance typically includes: Identification of plants that may be less desirable in other ways, but which carry a useful disease resistance trait, including wild plant lines that often express enhanced resistance.