MadSci Network: Cell Biology |
To my knowledge, and after doing research in the literature on the matter, there are no classified plant pathogens that cause disease or deformities of the plant vacoule. Like humans, plants are infected by 3 main types of organism: viruses, fungi and bacteria. Both bacteria and fungi do not tend to enter the plant cell directly. Many are refered to as biotrophic, and paratise plant cells: keeping them alive in order to gain more nutrients. Others are necrotrophic. These release toxins into the plant cells which kill them, and then utilise the nutrients that are released by the dying cell. It is possible there may be some toxins that act upon the vacuole membrane, disrupting it, but I have not been able to find any specific ones. Viruses tend to be rather inert, when they infect plant cells they highjack the cell machinary in order to replicate themselves. This means that everything they need is within the cell cytoplasm. It would probably be a very bad idea for a pathogen to inhabit or attack the plant vacoule, as the plant cell stores many hydrolitic and anti- microbial molecules there!
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