New insights into plant immunity against root disease
Researchers have identified a novel resistance gene, WTS, that confers resistance to clubroot, a major root disease that threatens the productivity of Brassica crops such as rape. WTS is a broad-spectrum resistance gene and offers great potential for breeding clubroot disease resistance in crops. The gene encodes a novel protein that functions as an endoplasmic reticulum-localized calcium release channel that increases cytosolic calcium ions, a critical secondary signal for the activation of plant defenses. The cloned WTS gene offers new hope for breeding Brassica crops resistant to a devastating disease that is otherwise difficult to control.