Tag: growth-defense trade-off

When plants grow shoulder to shoulder in crowded fields, they don’t just compete for space and sunlight—they also “talk” to one another. This underground and airborne chatter, carried by leaf volatiles and root exudates, helps plants sense nearby neighbors and prepare for threats. But how exactly…

When plants face tough times, like an invading pathogen or a sudden drought, they often make a difficult choice: pause growth to focus on survival. This phenomenon, called the growth–defense trade-off, has long been thought to result from limited resources – plants simply can’t do everything at…

Enhancing plant defense against pathogens and pests often incurs a cost to essential physiological functions such as growth and reproduction, creating a trade-off. This phenomenon is evident in genetic studies across various plant models and agricultural breeding programs. Salicylic acid (SA) is a well-known…

Plant resistance genes encode proteins that trigger immune responses when they recognize pathogen effectors. Their activation must be carefully regulated, as overexpression of activation of R genes usually causes a decrease in growth rate. Here, Sun et al. investigated the role of alternative splicing…