Revealing how a potato disease takes hold
Thursday, December 22, 2011 - 08:31
in Health & Medicine
Late blight is an economically devastating disease for potato farmers worldwide, causing tens of billions of dollars worth of damage each year. Phytophthora infestans, the causal agent of late blight, has evolved to overcome fungicides and major resistance genes that have been bred into commercial potato cultivars. In order to dampen the immune response of its host, P. infestans secretes molecules called disease effectors at the site of infection.