EU-funded study yields disease-resistant crops Food security, the ability to produce the amount of food needed to sustain the ever-growing human population, is one of the priorities that drives the EU's research agenda. Through research, we are able to develop new ways to increase the amount of food we grow, while at the s... Food security, the ability to produce the amount of food needed to sustain the ever-growing human population, is one of the priorities that drives the EU's research agenda. Through research, we are able to develop new ways to increase the amount of food we grow, while at the same time minimising the impact food production can have on the environment. A breakthrough by a UK-led research team is a case in point: these scientists have found a way to help crops defend themselves against disease, ultimately reducing yield loss and minimising pesticide usage. The research results are published in the journal Nature Biotechnology. The study was supported by the ERA-NET ('European Research Area Network') on Plant Genomics (ERA-PG), funded under the EU's Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) with over EUR 2 million. ERA-PG's research programme consisted of a total of 41 transnational research projects. In their paper, the authors of the current study highlight the immense crop losses incurred as a result of plant diseases. 'Microbial diseases and pests place major constraints on food production and agriculture,' they write. 'Agrochemical applications are the most common means of controlling these, but more sustainable methods are required. One way to improve plant disease resistance is to enhance the capability of the plants' own innate immune system.' The majority of plants have in-built mechanisms to fight microbial pathogens, but the capacity to combat a particular pathogen varies from one species to the next. Scientists from The Sainsbury Laboratory in the UK collaborated with an international team to focus on an immune receptor, known as the pattern recognition receptor (PRR), which is present in some plants (e.g. a wild species belonging to the mustard family). PRRs can identify molecules that are key to keeping a pathogen alive. Since these essential molecules exist in many different microbes, if a plant is able to identify and defend itself against a given molecular pattern, it is likely to be able to fight off a host of other pathogens as well. The problem is that only a handful of PRRs have been identified in plants to date. For their study, the team took a Brassica-specific PRR and transferred it into two plants, Nicotiana benthamiana and Solanum lycopersicum (tomato), to determine if adding new recognition receptors to the host arsenal would lead to better resistance. The resistance of the transformed plants was then tested against many types of plant pathogens. Results showed a significantly enhanced resistance against many different bacteria, including some of the most hazardous. The team showed that PRRs can be successfully transferred from one plant family to another, thus generating a new biotechnological solution to disease resistance. 'The strength of this resistance is because it has come from a different plant family, which the pathogen has not had any chance to adapt to, ' explained Dr Cyril Zipfel of The Sainsbury Laboratory. 'We can now transfer this resistance across plant species boundaries in a way traditional breeding cannot.' The team is now applying and testing their results to other crops that are highly susceptible to bacterial diseases such as potato, apple, cassava and banana. Countries United Kingdom
