One plant protein family may fight many fungal diseases at once
Zhang H, Ning Y, Wang R
Plant Signaling
The tomatoes, wheat, and roses in your garden all lose ground to fungal diseases every season, and this research points toward breeding plants with built-in defenses that work against many fungi at once instead of just one.
Plants have special proteins on their cell surfaces that act like security guards, watching for signs of invading fungi. Researchers found that one family of these guard proteins, called LecRLKs, is unusually good at spotting multiple types of fungal threats and can even trigger a chemical alarm inside the plant's own solar-power factories, the chloroplasts. That's exciting because most disease-resistant crop varieties only guard against one specific pathogen, so finding proteins that guard against many could make future crops much tougher.
Key Findings
LecRLKs (lectin receptor-like kinases) function as newly identified pattern recognition receptors that detect pathogen threats.
Some LecRLKs trigger a reactive oxygen species (ROS) burst originating in the chloroplast as part of the immune response.
Certain LecRLK gene variants (alleles) confer resistance to multiple different fungal diseases simultaneously, rather than just one.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists have discovered that a family of plant proteins called LecRLKs act as immune sensors, helping crops detect and fight off many different fungal diseases at once rather than just one. This could lead to hardier crop varieties that don't rely on a single resistance gene that pathogens can eventually outsmart.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
LecRLKs Modulate Broad-spectrum Resistance to Pathogens.
The resistance of crops against diseases is constrained by the number of resistance genes. Recent studies revealed that the lectin receptor-like kinases (LecRLKs) function as novel pattern recognit...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Was this useful?
Want to tell us more? (optional)
Thanks for the note!
Something went wrong — please try again.
Too many submissions. Try again in an hour.
Gene editing removes 97% of celiac-triggering proteins from bread wheat
It could mean that people with celiac disease — roughly 1 in 100 worldwide — may one day safely eat bread made from real wheat, without sacrificing the taste...
Crop-improvement refers to the systematic enhancement of plant varieties through selective breeding, genetic modification, and biotechnological approaches to develop cultivars with superior agronomic, nutritional, or environmental traits. This field is essential for addressing global food security,
arrow_forward Explore topic