• Potato (Solanum tuberosum) calcium-dependent protein kinase (StCDPK5) has been shown to phosphorylate the N-terminal region of plasma membrane RBOH (respiratory burst oxidase homolog) proteins, and participate in StRBOHB-mediated reactive oxygen species (ROS) burst. The constitutively active form, StCDPK5VK, provides a useful tool for gain-of-function analysis of RBOH in defense responses. • ...

Plant leaves are inhabited by a diverse group of microorganisms that are important contributors to optimal growth. Biotic and abiotic effects on plant growth are usually studied in controlled settings examining response to variation in single factors and in field settings with large numbers of variables. Multi-factor experiments with combinations of stresses bridge this gap, increasing our unde...

Late blight, caused by the notorious pathogen Phytophthora infestans, is a devastating disease of potato (Solanum tuberosum) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), and during the 1840s caused the Irish potato famine and over one million fatalities. Currently, grown potato cultivars lack adequate blight tolerance. Earlier cultivars bred for resistance used disease resistance genes that confer immuni...

From the past late blight is one of the most dreaded diseases of potato worldwide. In this study, microarray-based gene expression was analysed in a late blight resistant Indian potato cultivar Kufri Girdhari upon Phytophthora infestans infection. A comprehensive transcriptional analysis was performed using cDNA microarrays, containing 70,083 ESTs (expressed sequence tag libraries) from plant l...

Cultivating resistant varieties of potato is the most effective and environmentally safe method of protecting against pests and diseases that affect potato crops. Therefore, potato breeding is focused on developing more resistant varieties so that the use of plant health products can be reduced during the cultivation cycle. Resistance to late blight, viruses and nematodes is the most important ...

Ubiquitination regulates many processes in plants, including immunity. The E3 ubiquitin ligase PUB17 is a positive regulator of programmed cell death (PCD) triggered by resistance proteins CF4/9 in tomato. Its role in immunity to the potato late blight pathogen, Phytophthora infestans, was investigated here. Silencing StPUB17 in potato by RNAi and NbPUB17 in Nicotiana benthamiana by virus-induc...

ABSTRACT The Mexican National Potato Program has produced several cultivars with high levels of field resistance. We evaluated the durability of resistance to potato late blight of a selection of 12 such cultivars using data from 1960 to the present. Data were extracted from the field notebooks located in the archives of the Mexican National Potato Program in the John S. Niederhauser Library in...

Plants in landscapes, gardens, production fields, forests, and interiorscapes are subject to a wide variety of problems that threaten their health. These problems can affect the aesthetics of the plant or can pose more serious consequences which result in plant disfigurement, crop loss due to reductions in yield and quality, and plant death. Throughout time, plant diseases have had profound eff...

BACKGROUND Phytophthora infestans (Mont.) de Bary causes late blight of potato and tomato, and has a broad host range within the Solanaceae family. Most studies of the Phytophthora--Solanum pathosystem have focused on gene expression in the host and have not analyzed pathogen gene expression in planta. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We describe in detail an in silico approach to mine ESTs fro...