A Virginia Tech scientist has discovered a potentially new
form of plant communication, one that allows them to share an extraordinary
amount of genetic information with one another.
The finding by Jim Westwood, a professor of plant pathology,
physiology, and weed science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences,
throws open the door to a new arena of science that explores how plants
communicate with each other on a molecular level. It also gives scientists new
insight into ways to fight parasitic weeds that wreak havoc on food crops in
some of the poorest parts of the world.