Why some rust-resistant plant genes maintain their potency as the fungus co-evolves has long baffled crop researchers. For instance, over the past 50 years leaf rust and stripe rust have become no more virulent against wheat plants carrying the gene Lr34. But other resistance genes are typically rendered useless by these pathogens within three to five years.
Lagudah Evans at CSIRO Plant Industry in Canberra, Beat Keller of the University of Zurich in Switzerland and their colleagues recently studied Lr34's sequence. The team discovered that the crucial DNA sequence encodes a type of membrane protein called an ATP-binding cassette, or 'ABC' transporter.
Scientists who come across new resistance genes will be able to screen them for similar sequences and, on that basis, predict whether the resistance the new gene confers is likely to last, the authors say.
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Plant sciences: Rust resistant. Nature 457, 1060 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/4571060b
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/4571060b
