News Life Plant/animal hybrid proteins could help crops fend off diseases 'Pikobodies' loan plant immune systems a uniquely animal trait: flexibility Scientists gave the immune system of Nicotiana benthamiana, a tobacco relative, a boost by fusing one of its pathogen sensors with small antibodies from llamas and alpacas. Sean Gallup/Getty Images Share this:EmailFacebookTwitterPinterestPocketRedditPrint By Erin Garcia de Jesús March 2, 2023 at 2:00 pm A new biological mashup just dropped. “Pikobodies,” bioengineered immune system proteins that are part plant and part animal, could help flora better fend off diseases, researchers report in the March 3 Science.