An insidious fuzzy grey mould that often coats refrigerated strawberries and many other plants during growing and storage could be prevented by a gene identified at Purdue university in the US.
The mould is caused by a fungus - Botrytis cinerea - that often enters plant tissue through wounded or dead areas such as wilted petals, bruised fruit or at the site of pruning. Purdue plant molecular biologist Tesfaye Mengiste and colleagues at Syngenta Biotechnology report that the gene, called BOS1, is the first protein identified that regulates plant response to both biological and non-biological stresses.
"Botrytis affects many important crops in the field, in the greenhouse and in post-harvest situations," said Mengiste, an assistant professor in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology."It attacks flowers, fruits, vegetables, bulbs, leaves and stems. It has a tremendous capacity to inflict disease and eventually cause loss of quality and yield."
The scientists found the gene by sorting through mutations of the common laboratory research plant Arabidopsis. By studying altered plants that were highly susceptible to Botrytis, the researchers pinpointed the resistance gene, BOS1.
Grey mould disease destroys about 10 per cent of the grape crop annually and about 25 per cent to 30 per cent of tomato and strawberry crops in some seasons, experts report.
"The most cost-effective and environmentally sound approach to preventing this disease is through genetic resistance. If we can use the same gene we found in Arabidopsis in other plants that are hosts of Botrytis, then BOS1 can be utilised to prevent this fungus and other similar plant diseases," said Mengiste.
The BOS1gene appears to control other genes and seems to provide resistance to several types of stresses.
"In terms of biotechnology and improvements of both agricultural and horticultural plants through molecular approaches, it's important that this gene is a regulatory protein because it means you can just alter it so there is more or less of it. An alteration of the gene then can control multiple genes further down the pathway," commented Mengiste.
Full findings are published in the November issue of the journal The Plant Cell.