Glowing oat seedlings (IMAGE)

John Innes Centre

Glowing oat seedlings

Caption

Young oat seedling roots glow under UV due to the accumulation of the antimicrobial triterpene avenacins. Oats naturally produce avenacins exclusively within the root tip epidermal cells, which protects them from soil pathogens.

Credit

Image supplied by researchers in the Osbourn laboratory at the John Innes Centre

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