ReviewPlant signaling & behavior2019
Extended phenotype in action. Two possible roles for silica needles in plants: not just injuring herbivores but also inserting pathogens into their tissues.
Review in Plant signaling & behavior, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Review
- Functions of silicon and phytolith in higher plants.Plant signaling & behavior · 2023Article
- Plants as the Extended Phenotype of Endophytes-The Actual Source of Bioactive Compounds.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Review
- Plant defenses interact with insect enteric bacteria by initiating a leaky gut syndrome.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Phytoliths are silica bodies of various shapes including in the shape of sharp needles formed by many land plants. Defense from herbivory is one of the several known functions of phytoliths, especially the mechanical defense by abrasion of the mouthparts of arthropods and the teeth of mammalian herbivores. Another, although somewhat lesser-known, anti-herbivory defensive mechanism of phytoliths is wounding by sharp silica needles. We discuss and illuminate an even much less known defensive mechanism by phytoliths, i.e., the ability of needle-like phytoliths to insert microscopic pathogens (bacteria, fungi, viruses) into herbivores' tissues. We do it by comparison and by showing analogy with the better-known insertion of microbial pathogens into the body of herbivores by thorns, spines, and prickles. This largely overlooked and understudied defensive mechanism is a special case of a double extended phenotype; plants' defense, and the multiplication and dispersal of microorganisms, and is thus a case of mutualism.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.