Plant/animal hybrid proteins could help crops fend off diseases

'Pikobodies' loan plant immune systems a uniquely animal trait: flexibility

A photo of several plants in brown pots sitting on a large table.

Scientists gave the immune system of Nicotiana benthamiana, a tobacco relative, a boost by fusing one of its pathogen sensors with small antibodies from llamas and alpacas.

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A new biological mashup just dropped.

“Pikobodies,” bioengineered immune system proteins that are part plant and part animal, could help flora better fend off diseases, researchers report in the March 3 Science.