Fungus Resistance At Molecular Level Keeps Tomatoes From Wilting

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Main Category: Water - Air Quality / Agriculture
Also Included In: Biology / Biochemistry;  Immune System / Vaccines
Article Date: 09 May 2008 - 0:00 PST

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According to a study published in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens, researchers at the University of Amsterdam have discovered how to conquer the wilting tomato. Dr. Martijn Rep and colleagues reached their conclusions by studying the molecular level of the tomato.

Plants pathogens are remarkably talented when it comes to evolving along with the immune systems of their hosts, farmers and agriculturalists have to constantly adapt to this evolutionary ability. Some methods commonly used in agriculture to fight against changes in plant disease are environmentally friendly and utilize the innate immune system of plants. For example, growers cross some plant varieties with related plants that contain certain polymorphic resistance genes. This procedure provides a natural boost to the plant's immune system.

Rep and colleagues focused on the molecular basis of the well-established concept of adding resistance genes by crossing. Their study involved a fungal pathogen, Fusarium oxysporum, and how it interacts with and causes wilt disease in the tomato plant.

The researchers found that some strains of the fungus secrete a small protein that enables the fungus to defeat two of the tomato's genes that are associated with disease resistance. A third resistance gene, however, was demonstrated to specifically fight this suppressor protein. This enables the plant to remain immune to any fungal strain that creates the protein. The authors believe that, regardless of the molecular abilities of the fungus, having the correct set of resistance genes can keep a tomato from wilting.

"This molecular analysis has revealed a hitherto unpredicted strategy for durable disease control based on resistance gene combinations," conclude the authors.

Suppression of Plant Resistance Gene-Based Immunity by a Fungal Effector
Houterman PM, Cornelissen BJC, Rep M
PLoS Pathogens (2008). 4(5):e1000061.
doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1000061
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About PLoS Pathogens

PLoS Pathogens (www.plospathogens.org) publishes outstanding original articles that significantly advance the understanding of pathogens and how they interact with their host organisms. All works published in PLoS Pathogens are open access. Everything is immediately available subject only to the condition that the original authorship and source are properly attributed. Copyright is retained by the authors. The Public Library of Science uses the Creative Commons Attribution License.

About the Public Library of Science

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Written by: Peter M Crosta
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