White mold disease caused by a necrotrophic ascomycete pathogen results in serious economic losses of soybean yield in the USA. Lack of effective genetic resistance to this disease in soybean germplasm and increasing pathogen resistance to fungicides makes white mold difficult to manage. Small cysteine-rich antifungal peptides with multi-faceted modes of action possess potential for development as sustainable spray-on bio-fungicides.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChemical fungicides have been instrumental in protecting crops from fungal diseases. However, increasing fungal resistance to many of the single-site chemical fungicides calls for the development of new antifungal agents with novel modes of action (MoA). The sequence-divergent cysteine-rich antifungal defensins with multisite MoA are promising starting templates for design of novel peptide-based fungicides.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe auxin indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) is a plant hormone that not only regulates plant growth and development but also plays important roles in plant-microbe interactions. We previously reported that IAA alters expression of several virulence-related genes in the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato strain DC3000 (DC3000).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChilli pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is susceptible to Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum (Pcc), the causal agent of soft rot disease in crops.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF