Botrytis cinerea [or gray mold is]ย , a fungal pathogen that can infect… almost every fruit and vegetable…
A team ofย researchers, led byย Hailing Jin…ย have developed a new strategy that couldย provideย an… environmentally friendly fungicide toย fightย B. cinereaย and other fungal pathogens that harm crops.
Theย findings were just publishedย in the journal Nature Plants.
. . . .
…Theย researchers...ย found three years ago… thatย B. cinereaย can deliver smallย RNA[s]…ย to the hostย cellsย to induce…ย RNAย interference (RNAi) to suppress host immunity.
Building on that work… they discovered that… small RNAs can flow from the pathogen to the host and from the host to the pathogen.
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Furthermore, they found thatย B. cinereaย is capable of taking up RNA molecules from the environment, whichย makesย it possible to use such external RNAs in fungicidal sprays…
The researchers… found that applying those pathogenย gene-targeting RNA molecules to the surface of fruits and vegetables… can control gray mold diseases.
…Currently, fungicides and chemical spraying are still the most common disease control strategy. But, these treatments pose serious threats to… environments. RNA… doesnโt present problems for human health and it naturally degrades in soil.
ย The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post:ย Fighting Plant Pathogens with RNA
