Edited by: Thomas W. Durso
S. Whitham, S.P. Dinesh-Kumar, D. Choi, R. Hehl, C. Corr, B. Baker, "The product of the tobacco mosaic virus resistance gene n: similarity to toll and the interleukin-1 receptor," Cell, 78:1101-15, 1994. (Cited in more than 75 publications through August 1996) Comments by Barbara Baker, Plant Gene Expression Center, University of California, Berkeley, and United States Department of Agriculture-Agriculture Research Service, Albany, Calif.

Tobacco is seldom viewed as making positive contributions to humankind, but the research reported in this paper-dealing with one of the plant's disease-resistance genes-could lead to a wide variety of healthier crops that are better able to fight invading pathogens.

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and at the United States Department of Agriculture's Plant Gene Expression Center (PGEC) in Albany, Calif., say they isolated tobacco's resistance gene n, which quickly triggers defense mechanisms when it recognizes pathogens. This...

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