The contribution of pathogen effectors to host range and non-host resistance

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Solanaceous crops form an essential component of the world's food supply with potato ranking as the most important global non-cereal food crop. Pests and diseases are a major constraint to achieving food security. Up to 50% of crop losses in developing nations are due to pests and diseases. New, durable and sustainable means of combating crop disease therefore offer an opportunity to make a significant impact on food security across the world. The proposed research is expected to benefit a) growers worldwide, especially those in developing countries, b) consumers, c) biotechnology and industry, d) researchers investigating crop diseases and disease resistance and e) the environment by reducing the amount of chemical sprays required for crop protection.
Historically, growers in Europe have relied on pesticides to produce most of their crops in the face of pressure from pests and diseases. Recent EU directives however, have prohibited or restricted the use of many active ingredients. Thus, growers now face diseases which are difficult to control. Breeding offers an environmentally benign method of controlling diseases by intogression of resistance genes but is inefficient to deal with rapidly changing virulent pathogens. Furthermore, resistances are often not readily deployable into cultivars.
Non-host resistance underlies the inability of a pathogen to cause disease in all plants outside its host range and is thus, by definition, durable. This proposal aims to understand the molecular constraints governing host ranges of distantly related pathogens/pests of Solanaceae crops, and thus the basis of non-host resistance between closely-related species in the Solanaceae. Understanding the molecular basis of non-host resistance offers the prospect of durable resistance against damaging pathogens and thereby a reduction of chemical inputs (including fungicides) and economic losses to growers. This allows sustainable use and management of ecosystem resources; a key aims of the LWEC programme. In addition to addressing food security, resistance transferred from non-host plants offers the prospect of sustainable pathogen management and crop production. This will be of great benefit to consumers, especially in the developing world where food is scarce. Importantly, this proposal aims to translate conceptual advances emerging from fundamental research on both Solanaceae models and Arabidopsis thaliana to important crops. The outcomes of this proposed research will impact the biotechnology industry. Critically, this is an IPA proposal, with the companies Simplot and Syngenta directly investing in the research as Industrial Partners. They aim to assess and exploit the potential of disease resistance-associated genes arising from this work to achieve durable resistance in Solanaceous crops, with Simplot focussing on potato late blight, and Syngenta focussing on Phytophthora diseases of tomato and pepper.
The work described in this proposal is timely as it will exploit genome information for 2 economically important oomycete pathogens, and the recently completed potato, tomato, pepper and N. benthamiana genome sequences. Outcomes of the project will have a high impact on the research community and raise the profile of research staff involved through peer-reviewed publications and invitations to conferences. This project will provide excellent training and career development opportunities for two PDRAs, and exposure directly to commercial exploitation of their research.