Genome-edited rice shows resistance to bacterial blight in East Africa

The international Healthy Crops consortium has developed an innovative strategy to combat the disease bacterial blight (for short: BB) in rice using genome editing technology. If approved for use by farmers in Kenya, the BB-resistant rice varieties are expected to reduce yield losses associated with the disease in the affected rice growing regions and increase productivity. The work is a collaboration between Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) and Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU).

Breakthrough in plant disease: New enzyme could lead to anti-bacterial pesticides

Plant diseases pose significant challenges to agricultural productivity, presenting formidable hurdles that require urgent attention. Left unchecked, these diseases can spread rapidly, inflicting widespread damage on crops and leading to reduced yields and substantial economic losses.

Scientists engineer plant microbiome for the first time to protect crops against disease and cut use of pesticides

Scientists have engineered the microbiome of plants for the first time, boosting the prevalence of 'good' bacteria that protect the plant from disease. The findings published in Nature Communications by researchers from the University of Southampton, China and Austria, could substantially reduce the need for environmentally destructive pesticides. The paper is titled "Microbiome homeostasis on rice leaves is regulated by a precursor molecule of lignin biosynthesis."

Researchers show consequences of inaction on devastating banana disease

Lurking inside the crops of banana-producing-areas in east and central Africa is a disease called Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW)—and new modeling by researchers from the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT has shown that if left uncontrolled, this bacterial disease could cause a 55% reduction in banana production in newly affected regions within 10 years.

Developing rice varieties resistant to a bacterial disease outbreak in Africa

The "Healthy Crops" international research consortium led by Professor Dr. Wolf B. Frommer from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) is developing disease-resistant rice varieties. In eLife, the authors now report on the discovery of a recent bacterial outbreak in Tanzania—and describe how they modified an African rice variety to make it resistant to the pathogen.

Assembling highly repetitive Xanthomonas TALomes using Oxford Nanopore sequencing | BMC Genomics

How a sugar cane pathogen is gearing up a new era of antibiotic discovery

A potent plant toxin with a unique way of killing harmful bacteria has emerged as one of the strongest new antibiotic candidates in decades.