Each year, fungal infections destroy at least 125 million tons of the world’s five most important crops -rice, wheat, maize, soybeans and potatoes-, a quantity that could feed 600 million people. Fungi are not only a problem in the field, but also produce large losses in the post-harvest stage: during product storage, transport or in the consumer hands. Also, it should be noted that some fungi produce mycotoxins, substances capable of causing disease and death in both humans and animals. Farmers use fungicides to treat fungal infections, but these are not always 100% effective and, moreover, consumer demands pesticide-free products.
Each year, fungal infections destroy at least 125 million tons of the world’s five most important crops -rice, wheat, maize, soybeans and potatoes-, a quantity that could feed 600 million people. Fungi are not only a problem in the field, but also produce large losses in the post-harvest stage: during product storage, transport or in the consumer hands. Also, it should be noted that some fungi produce mycotoxins, substances capable of causing disease and death in both humans and animals. Farmers use fungicides to treat fungal infections, but these are not always 100% effective and, moreover, consumer demands pesticide-free products.
Like humans, plants have developed defense strategies to protect themselves against pathogen attacks. Now a team from the Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG) has found that the regulation of the protein activity in the plant by the mechanism known as SUMOylation is crucial for the plant protection against fungal infections.
The study, which has just been published in the specialized journal Molecular Plant, is the result of a collaboration between two CSIC researchers at CRAG: Maria Lois, expert in protein regulation, and María Coca, expert in plant immune responses to pathogen infection. As Maria Lois explains, “the results of this research will be used to develop new strategies for crop protection against fungal infection.”
Read more at Centre for Research in Agricultural Genomics
Image: These are Arabidopsis thaliana plants inoculated with Botrytis cinerea spores. The two on the left correspond to wild-type plants, more resistant to infection than those on the right, corresponding to plants deficient in protein SUMOylation. (Credit: CRAG)
