From the beginning of her career, Jedryczka wanted to breed plants that could resist fungal attacks. (sciencemag.org)
«Our data suggests that in natural seed banks, A. vesiculosa seeds would be lost to fungal attack very rapidly — in between six and 12 months,» says Cross. (newscientist.com)
The end result was that the plants» immune systems were even more prepared for fungal attack in the morning but more susceptible to infection at night — presumably to minimize interference between pathogen defense and growth, which mainly occurs in the pre-dawn hours. (sciencedaily.com)