Elevating crop disease resistance with cloned genes

TLDR

Plant species possess heritable disease resistance variation, yet crop monocultures suffer significant losses mitigated by agrichemicals that cause CO₂ emissions and soil compaction, while advances over the past 25 years have deepened our understanding of resistance mechanisms and pathogen evasion. The authors aim to use genetic approaches, rather than recurrent chemical sprays, to sustainably intensify crop production by elevating disease resistance and shifting the evolutionary balance toward crops. They demonstrate this by conducting a GM blight‑resistant potato trial in Norwich, inserting the Rpi‑vnt1.1 gene from *Solanum venturii* into the Desiree variety.

Abstract

Essentially all plant species exhibit heritable genetic variation for resistance to a variety of plant diseases caused by fungi, bacteria, oomycetes or viruses. Disease losses in crop monocultures are already significant, and would be greater but for applications of disease-controlling agrichemicals. For sustainable intensification of crop production, we argue that disease control should as far as possible be achieved using genetics rather than using costly recurrent chemical sprays. The latter imply CO₂ emissions from diesel fuel and potential soil compaction from tractor journeys. Great progress has been made in the past 25 years in our understanding of the molecular basis of plant disease resistance mechanisms, and of how pathogens circumvent them. These insights can inform more sophisticated approaches to elevating disease resistance in crops that help us tip the evolutionary balance in favour of the crop and away from the pathogen. We illustrate this theme with an account of a genetically modified (GM) blight-resistant potato trial in Norwich, using the Rpi-vnt1.1 gene isolated from a wild relative of potato, Solanum venturii, and introduced by GM methods into the potato variety Desiree. We illustrate this theme with an account of a genetically modified (GM) blight-resistant potato trial in Norwich, using the Rpi-vnt1.1 gene isolated from a wild relative of potato, Solanum venturii, and introduced by GM methods into the potato variety Desiree.