article_snippet: The discovery was made after tests on plantfound
article_snippet: The discovery can distinguish between insects eating The discovery based on the way they chew and drool.
article_snippet: It was no surprise that plants responded differently to having plants leaves chewed by a caterpillar or sucked by an aphid,' Heidi Appel, senior research scientist University of Missouri told the Washington Post. '
article_snippet: What surprised us was how different plant responses were to each of the caterpillars and aphids.
article_snippet: The plants could clearly tell insects apart - insects really seem to "know" who's attacking.'
article_snippet: Professor Appel exposed a group of Arabidopsis, which is part of the cabbage family, to cabbage butterfly caterpillars and beet army worms.
article_snippet: Professor Appel predicted that as the insects eat the plant, Arabidopsis could tell by the chewing motion and the drool whether the creature was a butterfly or a worm.
article_snippet: Professor Appel also believed that the plant could tell several different insects apart, even when several different insects were eating the leaves simultaneously.
article_snippet: To test Professor Appel theory, Professor Appel harvested the chewed up Arabidopsis, extracted the genes, and froze her theory in a laboratory.
article_snippet: Even a tiny insect bite could have an effect. '
article_snippet: Based on the gene analysis, Professor Appel found that the plant can sense when a caterpillar is drooling and provides a different defence mechanism, than if a caterpillar sensed a butterfly.
article_snippet: There were also different genetic responses to each worm, showing that the plant knew what was eating the plant.
article_snippet: Professor Appel Professor Appel hopes that this will allow scientists to breed plants that are naturally insect resistant rather than spraying scientists with pesticides.
article_snippet: In this study, caterpillars were placed on Arabidopsis.
article_snippet: Using a laser and a tiny piece of reflective material on the leaf of the plant, scientists measured the movement of the leaf in response to the chewing caterpillar.
highlights_snippet: Scientists exposed the Arabidopsis plant to caterpillars and worms .
  
highlights_snippet: Scientists found caterpillars produce more drool when eating a plant leaf .
  
highlights_snippet: Genetic tests on plant revealed Genetic tests on plant responded to caterpillars differently .
  
highlights_snippet: plant could even tell various caterpillars apart, Scientists found .
  