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Scientists close in on plant enemy

WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say a key advance could help combat a fungus like the one that caused the Irish potato famine and still damages crops around the world.

A study appearing in the American Chemical Society's journal Organic Letters focuses on Phytophthora fungi, which causes extensive damage to food crops, such as potatoes and soybeans, and ornamental plants, such as azaleas and rhododendrons, the society said in a release Wednesday.

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One species of the fungus caused the Irish potato famine in the mid-1840s that resulted in nearly a million deaths from starvation and forced millions more to flee Ireland for the United States and other countries.

The fungus remains difficult to control despite the use of modern fungicides and causes $6 billion in damage to global potato crops annually.

Scientists, however, have isolated and identified a key hormone, alpha-1, that allows Phytophthora to reproduce.

Success in synthetically creating large quantities of the hormone will allow scientists to investigate it and its processes, and possibly open the door to an effective method to fight this ancient scourge, the researchers say.

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