We identified a key common component of disease resistance in plants.

Recent studies on pathogenesis and host innate immune systems reveal surprisingly related mechanisms of virulence and resistance in plant and animal diseases. Although numerous plant disease resistance (R) genes were isolated to date, the molecular machinery of resistance signalling is still largely unknown. We identified a new component of the machinery and showed it forms a complex with the SCF E3 ligase that is involved in ubiquitination. This study provides a new paradigm for resistance signalling.

It describes a new gene required for disease resistance in plants. Understanding how this gene operates, people may be able to control a plant’s own immunity system to fight against pathogens without using pesticides in the future. We also developed a single-cell gene silencing system in barley to analyze genes involved disease resistance. This is very useful to study genes with unknown functions.

We identified a key common component of disease resistance in plants.

I have been interested in how plants defend themselves against pathogens. During my postdoc period, I was working on a barley mutant that is no longer resistant to powdery mildew. I cloned the gene that was responsible for the mutation by map-based cloning and found that the gene encodes a novel protein. To understand the function of this protein, we employed bioinformatics and interaction studies and identified other components of this signalling complex.

Ken Shirasu, Ph.D.
Group Leader
Sainsbury Laboratory
John Innes Centre
Norwich, UK