Abstract
One of the main limiting factors in food and fibre production is plant disease. The exact worldwide losses to disease are hard to estimate relative to other agricultural problems such as herbivory, weeds, drought and other stresses. However, it is generally accepted that diseases are responsible for a considerable fraction of crop loss. The diseases that are most damaging are caused by fungi, bacteria and viruses. Currently, the main methods of controlling disease involve the use of chemical pesticides, resistant cultivars and agricultural practice. These methods have helped in managing many diseases, but there are limitations to the current technologies available. For instance, while chemical solutions are very effective, there are problems with resistance which could affect the sustainability of the solution and thus jeopardise the farmer’s livelihood in the long term. Likewise, the use of genetically resistant cultivars has limitations in that the resistance is usually effective only against subspecies of certain pathogens. In some cases, resistant varieties have been grown for many years, providing successful disease control. However, as with chemical solutions, there are also resistance problems that are sometimes so severe that a resistant variety will have only a short practical lifetime.An example of this resistance to rust in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), where a resistant variety may only be effective for two to three seasons before a new virulent isolate of the pathogen arrives. Furthermore, genetic resistance can only be used in crops where a particular resistance source is known. For example, genetic resistance to important diseases, such as take-all in wheat, is simply not available. Thus, a need exists for improved solutions to disease control.
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Further Reading
Attachment to and recognition of the host
Hardham, A. (1992) Cell biology of pathogenesis. Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology, 43, 491–526.
Penetration of the host
Kolattukudy, P. (1985) Enzymatic penetration of the plant cuticle by fungal pathogens. Annual Review of Phytopathology, 23, 223–50.
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Martin, J. (1964) The role of the cuticle in the defence against plant disease. Annual Review of Phytopathology, 2, 81–100.
Inducible host defences
Bowles, D.J. (1990) Defence-related proteins in higher plants. Annual Review of Biochemistry, 59, 873–907.
Systemic acquired resistance and the role of salicylic acid
Ryals, J., Uknes, S. and Ward, E. (1994) Systemic acquired resistance. Plant Physiology (in press).
Raskin, I. (1992) Role of salicylic acid in plants. Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology, 43, 439–63.
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Wilson, T.M.A. (1993) Strategies to protect crop plants against viruses: pathogen-derived resistance blossoms. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 90, 3134–41.
Arabidopsis genetics
Koncz, C., Chua, N.-H. and Schell, J. (1992) Methods in Arabidopsis Research, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore.
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Ward, E., Uknes, S., Ryals, J. (1994). Molecular biology and genetic engineering to improve plant disease resistance. In: Marshall, G., Walters, D. (eds) Molecular Biology in Crop Protection. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1248-2_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1248-2_5
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