For Steve Pechous, a graduate student in plant physiology, it s not a nonsense question. The way they respond to disease looks different, but actually both respond hypersensitively.
Animals cough or sneeze.
Plants produce defensive chemicals. Not if the potato late-blight fungus attacks. In animals, it s called a hypersensitive response when certain cells recognize a pathogen and intensify the signal, triggering an immune response. With plant pathologist Eva Pell and veterinary scientist Channa Reddy, Pechous is studying how potatoes fend off the late blight fungus, cause of the Irish Potato Famine in the 1840s. It can destroy a crop in a few days.