Plant immunity, Blumeria graminis and transgenic resistance

Disease resistance is inarguably the best form of plant protection – when it works! Disease resistance is often limited in their action to a single species of pathogen and there are many pathogens, especially necrotrophs, where no sources of effective disease resistance are known.

The interaction between the biotrophic fungal pathogen and its host barley offers many advantages as model for studying defence mechanisms in plants. Our current efforts concern members of two families of genes involved in signal transduction and gene regulation which are activated in both barley and Arabidopsis by Blumeria graminis f.sp. hordei, namely the CRK receptor-like protein kinase and NAC transcription factor HvNAC6/ATAF1 families. Members of both of these gene families have roles in the regulation of both pathogen defence, responses to abiotic stress and plant development and their manipulation can confer enhanced resistance.

Recent support from the Research Council FTP to the project.