title: Interspecies gene transfer provides soybean resistance to a fungal pathogen.
abstract: Fungal pathogens pose a major challenge to global crop production. Crop varieties that resist disease present the best defence and offer an alternative to chemical fungicides. Exploiting durable nonhost resistance (NHR) for crop protection often requires identification and transfer of NHR-linked genes to the target crop. Here, we identify genes associated with NHR of Arabidopsis thaliana to Phakopsora pachyrhizi, the causative agent of the devastating fungal disease called Asian soybean rust. We transfer selected Arabidopsis NHR-linked genes to the soybean host and discover enhanced resistance to rust disease in some transgenic soybean lines in the greenhouse. Interspecies NHR gene transfer thus presents a promising strategy for genetically engineered control of crop diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Physiology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Caspar
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Langenbach
authors.affiliation: BASF Plant Science Company GmbH, Agricultural Center, Limburgerhof, Germany.
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schultheiss
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Physiology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rosendahl
authors.affiliation: BASF Plant Science Company GmbH, Agricultural Center, Limburgerhof, Germany.
authors.forename: Nadine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tresch
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Physiology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Conrath
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Physiology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Goellner
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics; D001487:Basidiomycota / Q000502:physiology*; D060467:Disease Resistance; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D020868:Gene Silencing; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D017343:Genes, Plant; D005838:Genotype; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013025:Glycine max / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology*; D013045:Species Specificity
keywords: Arabidopsis thaliana; Asian soybean rust; Phakopsora pachyrhizi; interspecies gene transfer; nonhost resistance; soybean