Innate immunity in plants

Studies of receptors and signal-transduction components that play a role in plant disease resistance have revealed remarkable similarities with innate immunity pathways in insects and mammals. In plants, specific receptors en coded by disease-resistance genes interact with products of microbial effec tor genes to activate defence responses. Resistance proteins have been foun d to have motifs in common with components of immune response pathways in m ammals and invertebrates, and to rely on similar downstream signalling comp onents. In the future, the sharing of ideas among plant and animal biologis ts is likely to broaden our understanding of defence responses in diverse o rganisms.