Disease resistance, or R genes, are key players studied by postdoctoral researcher Romeis and colleagues, led by senior author Jonathan D.G. Jones, whose lab is part of the Sainsbury Laboratory, John Innes Center, Norwich, UK. R gene products are thought to either act as receptors or belong to receptor complexes for matching proteins, which are encoded by avirulence (avr) genes in the pathogen.
| Courtesy of Tina Romeis |
 Tina Romeis |
For example, the tomato plant's Cf-9 gene is named after the leaf mold fungus Cladosporium fulvum. When a peptide encoded by the pathogenic gene Avr9 infects a Cf-9 plant, an intracellular signaling cascade begins for plant defense. But plants also must guard against so-called nonspecific elicitors, which are molecules from fungi, viruses, or bacteria that don't fit into specific Avr/R pairings. Other environmental stresses, such as wounds and drought, also exist. For this paper, researchers asked the key question: Are signaling pathways ...
