Purdue University and U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers said their findings are the first to show the same biochemical process protects an entire plant family -- grasses -- from the fungal pathogen. The scientists said the naturally occurring disease resistance might be responsible for the survival of grains and other grasses during the past 60 million years.

The senior author of the study, Purdue Associate Professor Guri Johal, said the research might lead to new resistance strategies against additional diseases in grasses and other plants.

The resistance gene -- Hm1 -- was first discovered in corn and the fungal toxin-fighting enzyme it produces apparently provides a biological mechanism that guards all grass species from the fungus, said Johal.

The research appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.