A pigeonpea gene confers resistance to Asian soybean rust in soybean.

Asian soybean rust (ASR), caused by the fungus Phakopsora pachyrhizi, is one of the most economically important crop diseases, but is only treatable with fungicides, which are becoming less effective owing to the emergence of fungicide resistance. There are no commercial soybean cultivars with durable resistance to P. pachyrhizi, and although soybean resistance loci have been mapped, no resistance genes have been cloned.

Identification of Phakopsora pachyrhizi Candidate Effectors with Virulence Activity in a Distantly Related Pathosystem.

Phakopsora pachyrhizi is the causal agent of Asian Soybean Rust, a disease that causes enormous economic losses, most markedly in South America. P. pachyrhizi is a biotrophic pathogen that utilizes specialized feeding structures called haustoria to colonize its hosts.

Cloning, characterisation and comparative analysis of a starch synthase IV gene in wheat: functional and evolutionary implications.

Background: Starch is of great importance to humans as a food and biomaterial, and the amount and structure of starch made in plants is determined in part by starch synthase (SS) activity. Five SS isoforms, SSI, II, III, IV and Granule Bound SSI, have been identified, each with a unique catalytic role in starch synthesis. The basic mode of action of SSs is known; however our knowledge of several aspects of SS enzymology at the structural and mechanistic level is incomplete.