Warwick researchers develop genetic system to improve crop resistance to disease

Researchers have developed a genetic system to improve crop resistance to disease. This new research uses the same approach that aircraft autopilots use to counteract turbulence. The Warwick Integrative Synthetic Biology Centre (WISB) researchers have developed a defensive system involving genetic re-wiring that strengthens the response of crops against deadly pathogens.

Pathogenic attacks not only causes a reduction in productivity but also increases crop waste thus leading to economic and sustainability consequences. Pathogens, when attacking crops, not only gain energy and nutrients from them but also weaken their immune response. Genetic re-wiring of the plants’ natural defence mechanisms gives crops enhanced resilience to environmental stresses. An additional benefit of genetic re-wiring is that it does not involve the introduction of external genes, therefore, any side effects on other plant responses are avoided. This may otherwise be an issue if genetic engineering had been employed instead and potentially a greatly damaging one if the crops’ resistance to disease were to be undesirably affected.

An additional benefit of genetic re-wiring is that it does not involve the introduction of external genes, therefore, any side effects on other plant responses are avoided

The research was led by Professor Declan Bates at WISB, University of Warwick, and Professor Katherine Denby from the University of York, also an associate member of WISB. Professor Bates’ group simulated the pathogen attack in Arabidopsis plants using data generated by Professor Denby and modelled the pathway to re-wiring the plant’s response mechanism. This mechanism works in the same way as an aircraft autopilot. The new defensive feedback control system prevents the pathogens from weakening the immune response of crops, therefore, making them more resilient against disease. This resembles an aircraft’s autopilot actions to reject disturbances such as wind gusts or turbulence upon detection.

Unfavourable abiotic and biotic stresses, for example, droughts and disease respectively, can cause significant crop loss. Climate change is increasingly exacerbating the situation due to the variable weather and changes in pathogen prevalence it leads to. Using this technique, crops can be made more resilient to varying conditions and yield can be maintained in suboptimal environments.

The new defensive feedback control system prevents the pathogens from weakening the immune response of crops, therefore, making them more resilient against disease

Bates also highlighted that “disease, drought and extreme temperatures cause significant yield losses in crop plants all over the globe, threatening world food security” and added that this study shows enormous potential in the use of feedback control to deal with those issues.

Denby, Professor of Sustainable Crop Production and Director of the N8 Agrifood Resilience Programme at the University of York, commented that “what is exciting here is applying engineering principles to plant biology to predict how to re-design plant gene regulation to enhance disease resistance”. This research was published in the ACS Synthetic Biology journal where the next steps would be to experimentally implement the simulated approach of genetic re-wiring.