WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Purdue University scientists have identified a gene that thwarts a pathogen that creates a fuzzy gray coating on flowers, fruits and vegetables.
A Purdue plant biologist and colleagues in Austria and North Carolina identified the gene that helps plants recognize pathogens and also triggers a defense against disease.
As Botrytis cinerea, a pathogen that makes strawberries gray and fuzzy, tries to invade a plant, the gene BIK1 recognizes the pathogen and sets off a defensive reaction, said Assistant Botany and Plant Pathology Professor Tesfaye Mengiste. Botrytis is a type of pathogen that can infect and obtain nutrients from dead cells on a plant and actually secretes toxic substances into plant tissue to gain entry.
"This gene, BIK1, makes plants resistant to pathogens such as Botrytis, but it allows biotrophic pathogens to invade," said Mengiste. "The mutant plant that doesn't have BIK1 actually shows decreased immunity to two pathogens, including Botrytis. But unexpectedly, it is completely resistant to virulent strains of the biotrophic bacteria."
The study was detailed in the January issue of the journal Plant Cell.
