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Boosting plant disease resistance through epigenetics
Increasing plant resistance to specific pathogens through genome editing is a very active branch of crop engineering. In a recent paper, Veley et al. propose to edit the epigenome to boost resistance to cassava bacterial blight by increasing the levels of DNA methylation at specific sites, while leaving…
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Staying connected helps plant population fitness
Many animals, including humans, tangibly benefit from living socially. Does this benefit extend to plants? A recent study by Höckerstedt et al. says it does. The authors studied a wild host-pathogen population, Plantago lanceolata, and its obligate powdery mildew pathogen Podosphaera plantaginis in…
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VDAL transgenic cotton exhibits tolerance to Verticillium wilt caused by Verticillium dahliae
Ma et al. investigate a VDAL protein from Verticillium dahliae that can enhance plant disease. Plant Cell https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koab221
By Aifang Ma, Zhizhong Gong and Junsheng Qi
Background: Verticillium wilt, also called a plant cancer disease, causes massive losses in multiple crops…