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Review
. 2020 Jan;225(1):70-86.
doi: 10.1111/nph.15967. Epub 2019 Jul 11.

Genetic modification to improve disease resistance in crops

H Peter van Esse  1   2 , T Lynne Reuber  1 , Dieuwertje van der Does  1
Affiliations
Review

Genetic modification to improve disease resistance in crops

H Peter van Esse et al. New Phytol. 2020 Jan.

Abstract

Plant pathogens are a significant challenge in agriculture despite our best efforts to combat them. One of the most effective and sustainable ways to manage plant pathogens is to use genetic modification (GM) and genome editing, expanding the breeder's toolkit. For use in the field, these solutions must be efficacious, with no negative effect on plant agronomy, and deployed thoughtfully. They must also not introduce a potential allergen or toxin. Expensive regulation of biotech crops is prohibitive for local solutions. With 11-30% average global yield losses and greater local impacts, tackling plant pathogens is an ethical imperative. We need to increase world food production by at least 60% using the same amount of land, by 2050. The time to act is now and we cannot afford to ignore the new solutions that GM provides to manage plant pathogens.

Keywords: biotechnology; food security; genetic modification; plant disease; plant pathogens; resistance.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Major disease outbreaks in the last 150 yr and current critical disease challenges. (a) A timeline of major disease outbreaks: (i) Introduction of the oomycete Phytophthora infestans which causes potato late blight results in the Irish potato famine in which 1 million people die and 1.5 million people emigrate. (ii) The rust fungus Hemileia vastatrix wipes out the coffee crop in Sri Lanka; the British become tea drinkers. (iii) The vascular fungal pathogen causing Fusarium wilt of banana nearly wipes out the Gros Michel variety; the resistant Cavendish banana is adopted. (iv) The fungus Cochliobolus miyabeanus, which causes Brown spot disease of rice is a factor in the Great Bengal Famine in which 2 million people die of starvation. (v) Bacterial leaf blight of rice (Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae) causes epidemics throughout Southeast Asia with yield losses up to 80%. (vi) Witches’ broom caused by the fungus Moniliophthora perniciosa is causing losses of up to 75% of annual cacao production in Brazil. (vii) The new Fusarium wilt isolate TR4 is identified and threatens Cavendish banana. (viii) Ringspot virus devastates the papaya industry in Hawaii; a GM variety is introduced that resists infection. (ix) A new race of the stem rust fungus Puccinia graminis (UG99) is spreading throughout Africa and the Middle East, threatening the world wheat supply. (x) Asian soybean rust caused by Phakopsora pachyrhizi reaches Brazil, costing growers US$2 billion annually in damages and control measures. (b) Examples of current disease challenges in major agricultural regions in the world that cause significant losses such as corn stalk and ear rots in the USA (4.15%), Soybean rust in Brazil (6.65%), Stem rust of wheat in sub‐Saharan Africa (8.89%), bacterial blight of rice in India (8.51%) and Fusarium head blight of wheat in China (8.75%). Source: Savary et al. (2019). Pictures: Gibberella zeae (corn ear rot) (photograph by Scot Adams, via Flickr, CC BY 2.0); Phakopsora pachyrhizi (Asian soybean rust) (photograph by Peter van Esse); Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Wheat stem rust) (Photo by Yue Jin); Xanthomonas oryzae f. sp. oryzae (bacterial blight) (photograph provided by IRRI under creative commons licence); Fusarium graminearum (Fusarium head blight) (photograph by Gary C. Bergstrom, Cornell University, USA).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Success stories with different points of intervention: (a) The 3R potato contains three NLRs effective against Phytophthora infestans, which is present as a single mating type in Uganda and Kenya. (b) The cell‐surface EF‐Tu receptor (EFR) provides field level of resistance against the devastating tomato wilt pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum. (c) The Tomelo, genome‐edited tomato has resistance against powdery mildew due to modification of the mlo gene. (d) Heterologous expression of hypersensitive response‐assisting protein (Hrap) and plant ferredoxin‐like protein (Pflp) from sweet pepper provides field level resistance against Xanthomonas wilt disease in banana. (e) Overexpression of a virus coat protein in papaya provides commercial control against Papaya ringspot virus in Hawaii. In each case, the control plant(s) are on the left and the transgenic plants on the right. Pictures: photographs provided by (a) Marc Ghislain, © International Potato Center; (b) Dr Sanju Kunwar and Dr Mathews Paret, University of Florida; (c) Sophien Kamoun, The Sainsbury Laboratory. (d) Photograph reprinted by permission from Springer Nature Customer Service Centre GmbH: Springer Nature, Nature Biotechnology, field trial of Xanthomonas wilt disease‐resistant bananas in East Africa, (L. Tripathi et al., 2014). (e) Photograph provided by Dennis Gonsalves, republished with permission of the American Phytopathological Society, from Ferreira et al. (2002). Permission conveyed through Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.
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