Abstract
Essentially all plant species exhibit heritable genetic variation for resistance to a variety of plant diseases caused by fungi, bacteria, oomycetes or viruses. Disease losses in crop monocultures are already significant, and would be greater but for applications of disease-controlling agrichemicals. For sustainable intensification of crop production, we argue that disease control should as far as possible be achieved using genetics rather than using costly recurrent chemical sprays. The latter imply CO2 emissions from diesel fuel and potential soil compaction from tractor journeys. Great progress has been made in the past 25 years in our understanding of the molecular basis of plant disease resistance mechanisms, and of how pathogens circumvent them. These insights can inform more sophisticated approaches to elevating disease resistance in crops that help us tip the evolutionary balance in favour of the crop and away from the pathogen. We illustrate this theme with an account of a genetically modified (GM) blight-resistant potato trial in Norwich, using the Rpi-vnt1.1 gene isolated from a wild relative of potato, Solanum venturii, and introduced by GM methods into the potato variety Desiree.
Highlights
Of seven billion humans, too many—close to one billion—are hungry
For sustainable intensification of crop production, we argue that disease control should as far as possible be achieved using genetics rather than using costly recurrent chemical sprays
Great progress has been made in the past 25 years in our understanding of the molecular basis of plant disease resistance mechanisms, and of how pathogens circumvent them. These insights can inform more sophisticated approaches to elevating disease resistance in crops that help us tip the evolutionary balance in favour of the crop and away from the pathogen. We illustrate this theme with an account of a genetically modified (GM) blight-resistant potato trial in Norwich, using the Rpi-vnt1.1 gene isolated from a wild relative of potato, Solanum venturii, and introduced by GM methods into the potato variety Desiree
Summary
Too many—close to one billion—are hungry. The reasons are complex, and include poverty, poor governance, pre- and post-harvest losses and wastage, and climatic factors. (phase 3), plants have evolved the capacity to recognize specific effectors, either directly or indirectly by detecting their effects on host components [9] This recognition is usually mediated by intracellular receptors encoded by disease resistance (R) genes. The potato cultivars Bionica and Toluca are very good examples for this breeding process, into which the durable late blight resistance gene Rpi-blb has been introgressed from a diploid wild species Solanum bulbocastanum. This process took more than 30 years of crossing and selection to obtain the final product [13]. Rare races exist that can overcome one or another of the Rpi genes, but no race exists that can overcome all three
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