With hybrid genes, grapevines beat blight
With a hybrid gene, grapevines can better defend themselves against Pierce’s disease, which threatens California’s wine industry.
“Many disease-causing microbes can evade one defensive action by a host plant, but we believe that most microbes would have difficulty overcoming a combination of two immune-system defenses,” says lead researcher Abhaya Dandekar, professor of plant sciences at University of California, Davis.
From 1994 to 2000, Xylella fastidiosa infected and destroyed more than 1,000 acres of northern California grapevines and caused $30 million in damages.
To block the infection, the researchers engineered a hybrid gene by fusing together two genes that are responsible for two key functions of the plant’s innate immune response: recognizing Xylella fastidiosa as a bacterial invader and destroying its outer membranes, causing the bacteria to die.
Full story at Futurity.
