Plant Resistance and Susceptibility to Petal Blight Disease Are Defined by the Timing of Defense Responses.

The family Sclerotiniaceae includes important phytopathogens, such as and , that activate plant immune responses to facilitate infection propagation. The mechanisms of plant resistance to these necrotrophic pathogens are still poorly understood. To discover mechanisms of resistance, we used the (Sclerotiniaceae)- spp.

Optogenetic regulation of transcription.

Optogenetics has become widely recognized for its success in real-time control of brain neurons by utilizing non-mammalian photosensitive proteins to open or close membrane channels. Here we review a less well known type of optogenetic constructs that employs photosensitive proteins to transduce the signal to regulate gene transcription, and its possible use in medicine. One of the problems with existing gene therapies is that they could remain active indefinitely while not allowing regulated transgene production on demand.