Understanding how the Arabidopsis plant peptide 'Kiss Of Death' (KOD) induces cell death in plant cells

Feeding the world's growing population is one of the greatest challenges of our time, requiring a substantial increase in global crop yield. To avoid crippling losses on their farm, most farmers welcome the idea of responsible agrochemical use. Bayer CropScience scientists are working on effective, environmentally compatible mechanisms of action for innovative crop protection products. In this way they are helping farmers in the UK and around the globe to safeguard the food supply for a growing world population. This work requires a continuous development of molecules to keep ahead of new challenges and respond to new regulatory frameworks. Active molecule discovery is therefore a very important part of feeding the world. The recent discovery at the University of Manchester, of a small plant peptide termed Kiss-Of-Death that regulates plant programmed cell death, represents a unique opportunity for crop protection scientists to develop new approaches for novel molecules. This collaboration with industry will bring a large-scale capability to the academic research side that will benefit the development of the project and increase its relevance to crop protection.