Researchers have unraveled a key genetic mechanism behind the way pathogens infect crops, leading to new strategies for breeding resistant crop varieties against other pathogens carrying the same genetic mechanism.

Led by researchers from the Center for Crop and Disease Management (CCDM)—a national center co-supported by GRDC and Curtin University—along with collaborators from the Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute, CSIRO, the University of Nottingham (UK) and INRAe (France), the team identified and validated the function of a specific DNA sequence linked to genes that cause damage on wheat.

By studying the genetic mechanism in Parastagonospora nodorum, the fungus that causes septoria nodorum blotch (SNB) of wheat, the research team were able to confirm that a transcription factor called Pf2 binds to a specific DNA consensus sequence. By doing this, Pf2 activates adjacent genes to produce necrotrophic effectors—molecules responsible for inducing damage on wheat.

Read on: https://phys.org/news/2024-10-genetic-mechanism-key-secret-disease.html