Plants Resistant to Fungal Disease (UC 2013-816)

University of California, Riverside researcher Prof. Hailing Jin and her colleagues have developed plants that are resistant to Botrytis cineria. These plants are genetically engineered to silence fungal pathogens that transfer “virulent” small RNA effectors to the plant that cause disease. This has led to the development of plants that are resistant to Botrytis cineria. Figures are pictured below in Images/Media Gallery: Figure. 1 shows that transgenic plants exhibited reduced disease susceptility to Botrytis cineria when compared with the wild type. Figure. 2 shows that lesion size and fungal biomass of at least 20 leaves were reduced in the transgenic plant when compared to the wild type. Measurements were take at 96 hours after exposure to Botrytis cineria. Grace Yee gracey@ucr.edu (951) 827-2212