Cellular and whole organ defence against pathogenic or chemical challenge is manifest as an adaptive response. Where appropriate, this may lead to induction of a cellular defence programme, thereby enhancing cell survival. When the challenge is overwhelming, the defence is breached and a switch is made to yield cell death, either by apoptosis or necrosis. Thus, a cell will defend itself where p...

New findings challenge the traditional view of the plant cell wall as passive structural barrier to invasion by fungal microorganisms. A surveillance system for cell wall integrity appears to sense perturbation of the cell wall structure upon fungal attack and is interconnected with known plant defence signalling pathways. Biotrophic fungi might manipulate this surveillance system for the estab...

The cellular redox state, or balance between oxidation and reduction reactions, serves as a vital antioxidant defence system that is linked to all important activities. Redox regulation therefore fundamental process for aerobic organisms. Whilst oxidative stress well described in neurodegenerative disorders including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), other aspects of dysfunction their contri...

Both physical barriers and reactive phytochemicals represent two important components of a plant's defence system against environmental stress. However, these two defence systems have generally been studied independently. Here, we have taken an exclusive opportunity to investigate the connection between a chemical-based plant defence system, represented by the glucosinolate-myrosinase system, a...

The paper presents a generalized model of damage caused to a complex multistate series-parallel system by intentional attacks. The model takes into account the defence strategy that presumes separation and protection of system elements and deployment of false targets. The defence strategy optimization methodology is suggested, based on the assumption that the attacker tries to maximize the expe...