Fitness costs on herbicide-resistant Digitaria insularis (L.) Fedde germination.

Digitaria insularis poses a significant challenge in weed control due to its perennial habit, dense clumping growth, and the widespread presence of herbicide-resistant biotypes. Our research investigates whether single or multiple herbicide resistance biotypes of D. insularis experience fitness costs, specifically affecting their germination.

Genetic basis of the historical iron-accumulating dgl and brz mutants in pea.

The Pisum sativum (pea) mutants degenerate leaves (dgl) and bronze (brz) accumulate large amounts of iron in leaves. First described several decades ago, the two mutants have provided important insights into iron homeostasis in plants but the underlying mutations have remained unknown. Using exome sequencing we identified an in-frame deletion associated with dgl in a BRUTUS homolog.

Effector target-guided engineering of an integrated domain expands the disease resistance profile of a rice NLR immune receptor.

A subset of plant intracellular NLR immune receptors detect effector proteins, secreted by phytopathogens to promote infection, through unconventional integrated domains which resemble the effector's host targets. Direct binding of effectors to these integrated domains activates plant defenses. The rice NLR receptor Pik-1 binds the effector AVR-Pik through an integrated heavy metal-associated (HMA) domain.

The Piks allele of the NLR immune receptor Pik breaks the recognition of AvrPik effectors of rice blast fungus.

Arms race co-evolution of plant-pathogen interactions evolved sophisticated recognition mechanisms between host immune receptors and pathogen effectors. Different allelic haplotypes of an immune receptor in the host mount distinct recognition against sequence or non-sequence related effectors in pathogens. We report the molecular characterization of the Piks allele of the rice immune receptor Pik against rice blast pathogen, which requires two head-to-head arrayed nucleotide-binding sites and leucine-rich repeat proteins.