Abstract
Domestic crop plants are modern marvels of extensive breed- ing; however, many of their natural defenses against pests and pathogens have been lost. Wild relatives still harbor disease re- sistance genes, but transferring these large sequences into com- plex, polyploid plant genomes calls for advanced genomic engineering technologies. Recently, government researchers in Australia, successfully transferred a 37 kb resistance stack into the genome of a domesticated wheat species such that it is pro- tected against the rapidly evolving wheat leaf rust pathogen Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt) without losing any agronomic feature.
Highlights
With an average size of 8 kb, R genes are very large, and genetic manipulation of wheat is challenged by its large complex polyploid genome.[5]
The insertion strategy needs to be modular, such that R genes can be replaced by others to create custom resistance profiles in order to strategically engineer plants for geographical needs
About 30% of our most important crops are lost every year to fungal diseases.[3]
Summary
Advance Access Publication Date: 15 February 2021 Synthetic Biology News Wild relatives still harbor disease resistance genes, but transferring these large sequences into complex, polyploid plant genomes calls for advanced genomic engineering technologies.
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