What is disease resistance?
Disease resistance refers to the ability of a plant to restrict, slow down, or overcome the effects of a pathogen or disease. There are several types of disease resistance in plants:
- Horizontal resistance - provides resistance to multiple strains or races of a pathogen. It is generally governed by multiple genes and is long-lasting.
- Vertical resistance - protects the plant from specific strains of a pathogen. It is governed by single genes and can be overcome by new strains of the pathogen.
- Complete resistance - the plant shows no disease symptoms when inoculated with a pathogen. The pathogen may infect the plant but cannot complete its lifecycle.
- Partial resistance - the plant shows reduced disease severity and the pathogen lifecycle is restricted.
Disease resistance is crucial for food security as it allows crops to withstand infections by fungal, bacterial and viral pathogens that would otherwise cause major yield losses. There are several ways disease resistance is achieved in plants:
- R genes - Plant resistance (R) genes encode receptors that recognize pathogen molecules and trigger defense responses such as programmed cell death at infection sites.
- Systemic acquired resistance - A pathogen infection primes the plant's immune system to respond faster and stronger to later infections. This long-lasting heightened response state protects against multiple pathogens.
- Antimicrobial compounds - Plants produce antimicrobial metabolites and proteins that inhibit pathogen growth. Common examples are phytoalexins and pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins.
Breeding crops with improved disease resistance involves identifying and introducing R genes from wild relatives. Genome editing tools like CRISPR can also insert resistance genes more precisely. Managing crop rotations, seed treatments and biopesticides also helps prevent disease outbreaks.
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