Plant pathogens and diseases are among the most significant challenges to survival that plants face. Disease outbreaks caused by microbial or viral pathogens can decimate crop yields and have severe effects on global food supply. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying plant immune response and applying this understanding to develop biotechnological tools to enhance plant defense against pathogens has great potential for moderating the impact of plant disease outbreaks. Plant Pathogen Resistance Biotechnology’s main focus is an in depth survey of the biological strategies being used to create transgenic disease resistant plants for sustainable plant resistance.

Plant Pathogen Resistance Biotechnology is divided into four sections. The first section covers biological mechanisms underpinning disease resistance in plants, while the second highlights case studies of important pathogen-crop groups and then considers why the application of important pathogen-crop groups, transgenic-based strategies designed to selectively target pathogens could benefit crop production. The third section provides information on the status of transgenic crops around the world, and finally the last part explores high-tech alternatives to genetic engineering for developing disease resistant traits in plants.

Edited and authored by leaders in the field, Plant Pathogen Resistance Biotechnology will be an invaluable resource to those studying or researching plant biotechnology, plant pathology, plant biology, plant and crop genetics, in addition to crop science.

Plant Pathogen Resistance Biotechnology

Chapter 1:

The status and prospects for biotechnological approaches for attaining sustainable disease resistance

David B. Collinge, Ewen Mullins, Birgit Jensen, and Hans JL Jørgensen

Part 1: Biological Strategies Leading Towards Disease Resistance

Chapter 2:

Engineering barriers to infection by undermining pathogen effector function or by gaining effector recognition

Ali Abdurehim Ahmed, Hazel McLellan, Geziel Barbosa Aguilar, Ingo Hein, Hans Thordal-Christensen, and Paul Birch

Chapter 3:

Application of antimicrobial proteins and peptides in developing disease resistant plants

Ashis Nandi

Chapter 4:

Metabolic engineering of chemical defence pathways in plant disease control

Fred Rook

Chapter 5:

Arabinan: biosynthesis and a role in host-pathogen interactions

Maria Stranne and Yumiko Sakuragi

Chapter 6:

Transcription factors that regulate defence responses and their use in increasing disease resistance

Prateek Tripathi, Aravind Galla, Roel C. Rabara, and Paul J Rushton

Chapter 7:

Regulation of abiotic and biotic stress responses by plant hormones

Dominik K. Großkinsky, Eric van der Graaff, and Thomas Roitsch

Part 2: Case Studies for groups of pathogens and Important Crops. Why is it especially advantageous to use transgenic strategies for these pathogens or crops?

Chapter 8:

Engineered resistance to viruses: A case of plant innate immunity

Paula Tennant and Marc Fuchs

Chapter 9:

Problematic crops: 1. Potatoes- Towards sustainable potato late blight resistance by cisgenic R gene pyramiding

K.R. Jo, S. Zhu, Y. Bai, R. Hutten , G. Kessel , V.G.A.A. Vleeshouwers, E. Jacobsen, R.G.F. Visser, and J.H. Vossen

Chapter 10:

Problematic Crops: Grape: To long life and good health: untangling the complexity of grape diseases to develop pathogen resistant varieties Grapevines: To long life and good health

Dario Cantu, M.C. Roper, Ann Powell, and John M Labavitch

Chapter 11:

Developing Sustainable Disease Resistance in Coffee: Breeding vs. Transgenic Approaches

Avinash Kumar, Simmi P.S., Nandini P. Shetty, and Giridhar Parvatam

Chapter 12:

Biotechnological approaches for crop protection: transgenes for disease resistance in rice

Blanca San Segundo, Belén López-García, and María Coca

Part 3: Status of transgenic crops around the world.

Chapter 13:

Status of transgenic crops in Argentina

Fernando F. Bravo-Almonacid and Maria Eugenia Segretin

Chapter 14:

Status of transgenic crops in Australia

Michael Gilbert

Chapter 15:

Transgenic crops in Spain

María Coca, Belén López-García, and Blanca San Segundo

Chapter 16:

Biotechnology and crop disease resistance in South Africa

Maryke Carstens and David K Berger Pretoria

Part 4. So you don’t want transgenic plants?

Chapter 17:

Exploiting plant induced resistance as a route to sustainable crop protection

Michael R Roberts and Jane E Taylor

Chapter 18:

Biological control using microorganisms as an alternative to disease resistance

Dan Funck Jensen, Magnus Karlsson, Sabrina Sarrocco, and Giovanni Vannacci

Chapter 19:

TILLING in plant disease control: applications and perspectives

Francesca Desiderio, Anna Maria Torp, Giampiero Valè, and Søren K. Rasmussen

Chapter 20:

Fitness costs of pathogen recognition in plants and their implications for crop improvement

James K.M. Brown