Key Points
Online Summary
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Progress in molecular genetic analyses of disease resistance in plants has been greatly influenced by research of plant associations with highly specialized biotrophic pathogens.
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Natural variation in disease resistance is typically monogenic in both crops and wild species, most notably Arabidopsis thaliana.
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Monogenic resistance usually involves concerted expression of multiple genes in a cascade of defence responses that couples receptor-like R genes with other defence-response genes that are functionally conserved or redundant among plant species.
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Most R genes in plants encode receptor-like proteins, the largest structural class being characterized by a highly conserved nucleotide binding (NB) site and hyper-variable leucine rich repeat (LRR) domain.
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Almost half of the 165 NB–LRR genes in Arabidopsis are located in one of thirteen clusters, the remaining genes residing in singlet or doublet loci. • The 'birth and death' model of R-gene evolution proposes that these genes have expanded within loci usually by unequal crossing-over between mispaired tandem copies, and have subsequently diverged as a result of further intragenic unequal crossing-over, point mutation, gene conversion and/or transposon insertion.
Abstract
Plant pathology was born after the nineteenth-century potato famine, and since then insightful genetic experiments have contributed to the great progress in our understanding of disease control. Our current view of plant resistance focuses on numerous polymorphic resistance loci, which contain genes known as R genes. The complete sequence of the Arabidopsis thaliana genome provides a framework for exploring the 'big bang' of R genes that occurred and how R genes evolved in plants from their associations with microorganisms, and for improving strategies for more sustainable deployment of disease resistance in crops.
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Acknowledgements
I am grateful for constructive reviews of the manuscript from four anonymous referees and helpful discussions from J. Dangl, J. Ellis, J. Jones, J. Burdon, M. Tör and D. Barbara. The author's work is supported largely by grants from the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.
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Glossary
- BIOTROPHIC
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A type of parasite that derives its energy from the living cells of its host.
- NECROTROPHIC
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A type of parasite that derives its energy from dead cells that are part of a live host.
- CLADE
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An organismal lineage comprising an ancestor and all its descendants.
- CULTIVAR
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A cultivated variety (genetic strain) of a domesticated crop plant.
- PATHOSYSTEM
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An ecological subsystem defined by the phenomenon of parasitism. A plant pathosystem might include one or more host plant species along with the various parasites (insects, fungi, bacteria and so on) that use the hosts.
- DICOTYLEDONS
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Members of a subphylum of angiosperms that have two seed leaves (cotyledons) in the embryo.
- STOMATA
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Natural openings in the epidermis of a stem or leaf of a plant that are surrounded by specialized guard cells, and permit gas exchange with the air.
- ACCESSION
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A sample of a plant variety collected at a specific location and time.
- MESOPHYLL
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Leaf cells that lie beneath the outer epidermal cell layer.
- PATHOVAR
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Abbreviation for pathogen variety, a subspecific classification that indicates host origin and to some extent host specialization.
- OOMYCETE
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A phylum of filamentous eukaryotic microorganisms that, although fungal-like, are more closely related to yellow-green algae.
- GENE CONVERSION
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The non-reciprocal transfer of information between homologous genes as a consequence of heteroduplex formation, followed by repair of mismatches in the heteroduplexes.
- PARALOGUE
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Homologous genes that originated by gene duplication.
- ORTHOLOGUE
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Homologous genes that originated through speciation.
- BALANCED POLYMORPHISM
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Selective advantage of heterozygous individuals.
- MICROEVOLUTION
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Refers to small-scale changes that usually occur at the level of the species, and on short timescales.
- FREQUENCY-DEPENDENT SELECTION
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Describes the situation in which the selection pressure (in this case, imposed on the pathogen by different R genes alleles) varies with the proportion of individuals that carry a given allele or allelic combination in a population.
- OUTCROSSING
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(or outbreeding) Mating between unrelated individuals. Arabidopsis lyrata is self-incompatible and therefore breeds by crossing to other individuals in the species. By contrast, A. thaliana is self-compatible and therefore can self-pollinate.
- ANGIOSPERMS
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The phylum of flowering seed plants, including both dicotyledons and monocotyledons ( for example, grasses and cereals).
- GYMNOSPERMS
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Non-flowering seed plants (for example, pine).
- MONOCOTYLEDONS
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Angiosperms that have one seed leaf (cotyledon) in the embryo.
- POLYPHYLETIC
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Descended from different ancestors.
- MACROEVOLUTION
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Describes evolution that occurs at or above the level of species.
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Holub, E. The arms race is ancient history in Arabidopsis, the wildflower. Nat Rev Genet 2, 516–527 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35080508
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35080508