United Kingdom
August 10, 2009
Over 160 years since potato blight
wreaked havoc in Ireland and other northern European countries,
scientists funded by the
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
(BBSRC) finally have the blight-causing pathogen in their sights
and are working to accelerate breeding of more durable, disease
resistant potato varieties.
Using pathogen genomics, Professor Paul Birch from the Division
of Plant Sciences, University of Dundee (at
Scottish Crop Research Institute
- SCRI), alongside researchers from
Warwick HRI and the
University of Aberdeen, is
looking at how the most significant potato pathogen, Phytopthora
infestans causes disease and identifying essential pathogen
virulence genes that may be durable targets for host resistance
proteins.
Costs associated with crop losses and chemical control of blight
exceed £3billion globally each year. Professor Birch, explained:
"What we have seen is an evolutionary arms race between a
pathogen and its host and, so far, the pathogen has been
winning."
However, this looks set to change as a result of greater
understanding of the role of so-called effector proteins, which
are secreted by the pathogen and go onto manipulate the plant
cell structure, defences and metabolism to establish disease.
The discovery of more than 500 genes encoding these effectors,
along with recent advances in technology to study
protein-protein interactions provides an unparalleled
opportunity to investigate how plant defences are suppressed by
invading microbes.
Within these effector proteins, Professor Birch and his
colleagues have discovered a genetic motif - RXLR, which is
necessary for the P. infestans pathogen proteins to enter the
potato cells.
"We are really excited by the discovery of RXLR. This has
provided a signature to search for proteins that are delivered
inside host cells, where they may be exposed to plant defence
surveillance systems," said Professor Birch.
The scientists hope that their understanding of how effectors
interact with their targets in the host will lead to novel
strategies to control or prevent crop losses and environmental
damage for a wide variety of plant diseases, not just potato
blight.
Commenting on the research, BBSRC Chief Executive Professor Doug
Kell, said: "Potatoes are the third most important food crop in
the world, but blight continues to devastate crops worldwide,
having huge economic and dietary ramifications. This exciting
research highlights the invaluable role that genomics has to
play in preventing crop losses in potatoes and other crops and
helping to address the urgent issue of global food security."
This research is featured in the latest edition of Business, the
BBSRC research highlights magazine.
This research features in the new look Summer 2009 issue of
Business, the research highlights magazine of the Biotechnology
and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
(BBSRC) is the UK funding agency for research in the life
sciences. Sponsored by Government, BBSRC annually invests around
£450M in a wide range of research that makes a significant
contribution to the quality of life for UK citizens and supports
a number of important industrial stakeholders including the
agriculture, food, chemical, healthcare and pharmaceutical
sectors. BBSRC carries out its mission by funding
internationally competitive research, providing training in the
biosciences, fostering opportunities for knowledge transfer and
innovation and promoting interaction with the public and other
stakeholders on issues of scientific interest in universities,
centres and institutes.
The Babraham Institute, Institute for Animal Health, Institute
of Food Research, John Innes Centre and Rothamsted Research are
Institutes of BBSRC. The Institutes conduct long-term,
mission-oriented research using specialist facilities. They have
strong interactions with industry, Government departments and
other end-users of their research. |
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