Programmable platform enables on-demand design of plant immune receptors against crop pathogens

AI Summary

Scientists have developed a programmable platform to design plant immune receptors on demand to combat rapidly evolving crop pathogens. This advancement aims to enhance durable disease resistance beyond traditional breeding methods reliant on natural immune gene diversity.

Crop production faces threats from plant pathogens. Traditional disease-resistance breeding relies heavily on natural plant resistance genes that encode immune receptors adapted to particular pathogens. However, rapidly evolving pathogens frequently overcome these natural defenses, and the limited diversity of naturally occurring immune receptors makes it difficult to develop crops with durable resistance.