Plant inoculation with endophytic bacteria that normally live inside the plant without harming the host is a highly promising approach for biological disease control. The mechanism of resistance induction by beneficial bacteria is poorly understood, because pathways are only partly known and systemic responses are typically not seen. The innate endophytic community structures change in response...

Plant breeders have used disease resistance genes (R genes) to control plant disease since the turn of the century. Molecular cloning of R genes that enable plants to resist a diverse range of pathogens has revealed that the proteins encoded by these genes have several features in common. These findings suggest that plants may have evolved common signal transduction mechanisms for the expressio...

Genetic resistance to plant viruses has been used for at least eighty years to control agricultural losses to viral diseases. To date, hundreds of naturally occurring genes for resistance to plant viruses have been reported from studies of both monocot and dicot crops, their wild relatives and the plant model, Arabidopsis. While viruses are relatively simple genetic entities and much progress h...

Systemic acquired resistance (SAR) of plants to pathogens is a well-defined phenomenon. The underlying signalling pathways and its application in crop protection are intensively studied. However, most studies are conducted on crop plants or on Arabidopsis as a model plant. The taxonomic distribution of this phenomenon and its dependence on life history are thus largely unknown. We quantified ac...

It has been proposed that cloned plant disease resistance genes could be transferred from resistant to susceptible plant species to control important crop plant diseases. The recently cloned N gene of tobacco confers resistance to the viral pathogen, tobacco mosaic virus. We generated transgenic tomato plants bearing the N gene and demonstrate that N confers a hypersensitive response and effect...

Plant hormones play important roles in regulating developmental processes and signalling networks involved in plant responses to a wide range of biotic and abiotic stresses. Salicylic acid (SA), jasmonates (JA) and ethylene (ET) are well known to play crucial roles in plant disease and pest resistance. However, the roles of other hormones such as abscisic acid (ABA), auxin, gibberellin (GA), cy...

rosy apple aphid, dysaphis plantaginea (passerini), with worldwide distribution is an important pest of apple orchards. host plant resistance is an essential component of integrated management of this insect pest. we investigated the resistance of seven apple cultivars, malus domestica (borkhausen), namely granny smith, starkrimson, golden smoothee, red delicious, golden delicious, boshghabi, a...

Plant viruses constitute one of the main problems of the agricultural production worldwide (Kang et al., 2005). To date, there are not therapeutical measures available for the control of plant-virus diseases in the field and the main control strategy used in practice is based on prevention measures. Genetic resistance is by far the most effective way to control plant viruses. However, ‘traditio...

The soybean aphid, Aphis glycines, is a pest of soybean in Asia, and it has become a major pest of this crop in North America with large outbreaks that cause significant yield loss. Host-plant resistance is one management tactic being developed against soybean aphid in North America, and resistance may be manifested as antixenosis, antibiosis, or tolerance. In this study, choice tests were cond...

Aphids are economically important pests that cause extensive feeding damage and transmit viruses. While some species have a broad host range and cause damage to a variety of crops, others are restricted to only closely related plant species. While probing and feeding aphids secrete saliva, containing effectors, into their hosts to manipulate host cell processes and promote infestation. Aphid ef...