Defence above ground

Plants are infected by various pathogens, and plant disease outbreaks pose a substantial risk for global food security owing to, for example, decreased crop production and yield loss. Global change such as global warming is aggravating the prevalence of plant disease in crops, such as increased incidence of panicle diseases. Rice false smut (RFS) is a devastating panicle disease in rice and is caused by the biotrophic fungal parasite Ustilaginoidea virens. In addition to causing severe loss of yield, RFS leads to contamination of rice panicles and the agricultural environment through the production of mycotoxins. Current disease prevention strategies include the use of synthetic chemical fungicides; however, owing to the danger to human health posed by the chemicals and the development of fungicide drug resistance, new control measures are urgently needed. The plant-associated microbiome has important roles in the health and productivity of their plant host, and the plant microbiota could be harnessed as an environmentally friendly control strategy of plant disease. Research has focused mostly on the role of the rhizosphere microbiome in pathogen protection, whereas the role of the phyllosphere microbiome in disease resistance is less well understood. In this new study, Wang and colleagues report that the resident panicle microbiota in rice modulates host metabolism to prevent U. virens infection.

留言 (0)

沒有登入
gif