An Introduction to Plant Immunity

Dhia Bouktila, Yosra Habachi

• Publisher: Bentham Science Publishers
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781681088037
• eBook ISBN: 9781681088020
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Botany
• Index: Biological Sciences

An Introduction to Plant Immunity is a comprehensive guide to plant immunology and stress response. The book covers the topic in 21 detailed chapters, starting from an introduction to the subject to the latest knowledge about plant disease resistance. The topics covered in the book include plant pathogens, plant diseases, plant immunity, passive defense mechanisms, acquired resistance, molecular genetics of plant immunology, protein function and genetic engineering. Each chapter provides a reader-friendly introduction along with clear sections detailing each topic. Additionally, detailed references for further reading are also provided. The combination of basic and advanced information on plant immunity make this book an essential textbook for students in botany and plant biology courses. Researchers interested in plant genomics and the effects of environmental and microbial interactions on plants will also benefit from this informative reference.

Contribution of Genomics to the Study of Resistance in Cultivated Plants

Dhia Bouktila, Yosra Habachi

Abstract

Nowadays, agricultural genomics, or agrigenomics (the application of genomics in agriculture), continues to drive sustainable productivity and offer solutions to the mounting challenges of feeding the global population. Omic sciences (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics) open today opportunities to create plants with high yields, independently of biotic and abiotic stresses. Plant genomic research, genome-wide computational tools and association analyses can assist in the identification of Resistance gene analogs (RGAs) from strategic plant species, and the detection of disease resistance QTLs. This chapter summarizes some of the large-scale genomic tools and studies that have clarified the plant – pathogen interactions.

Keywords: Plant Genomic Research, Computational Analyses, Genome-Wide Analyses, Big Biological Data, Agrigenomics, Biotic Stresses, R-gene Analogs (RGAs), NBS-LRR-encoding Genes, TILLING, RNA-seq, GWAS.

INTRODUCTION

The origin of the term genomics is recent since it was proposed by Tom Roderick in 1989 to designate the science having for subject the study of genomes. This new discipline aims to identify all the genes of a living organism. The first sequence of a genome, that of the bacteriophage PhiX174 (5386 bp) was published in 1977 (Sanger et al. 1977). Several virus, chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes were then sequenced for the next 20 years.

The advent and improvement of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology has rapidly expanded the genomic information of numerous organisms and accelerated the generation of multiomic (genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic) data, leading to a new era of ‘big biological data’.

For plants, in particular, genetic resources are crucial for crop-breeding programs. Rich plant genetic resources have become available. As of March 2020, the genomes of ~ 100 angiosperm species have been completely sequenced and their genome data are hosted in well-constructed customized databases. Most of these species are plants of high economic importance or their wild relatives. Never-

theless, the number of sequenced plant species (without customized databases) is much higher and is above 230 angiosperms (Chen et al. 2018).

A crucial challenge that emerges from genome data availability, resides in structuring (integrating and organizing) these plant omic data and linking them to particular phenotypes, which will contribute significantly to broadening and deepening our understanding of the molecular and genetic mechanisms that underly plant growth and adaptation to surrounding constraints, including abiotic and biotic stresses, therefore efficiently assisting in the breeding programs of major agricultural crops.

1. PLANT GENOMIC RESEARCH

In agriculture, the sequencing of the genomes of the main economic food crops and livestock is a project that has been going on for a long time. In particular, plant genomics was kick-started in 2000, when the common weed, Arabidopsis thaliana, was sequenced and promoted to a status of celebrity, as a model species. However, advances in many important plant species were hindered by the complexity of their genomes. It took almost 20 years for most of the genomes of agricultural crops around the world to be sequenced. Almost four years after the launch of an international rice genome sequencing consortium (International Rice Genome Sequencing Project, IRGSP), the rice genome was completely sequenced in 2002 (Goff et al. 2002). It is the second plant genome, after that of A. thaliana published in 2000. In 2005, an international consortium for the sequencing of the wheat genome (International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium, IWGSC) was launched. A draft of this genome was published in November 2012 (Brenchley et al. 2012). This research was particularly long to carry out because of the complexity o...

Table of contents

• Welcome
• Table of Content
• Title
• BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS LTD.
• PREFACE
• FOREWORD
• DEDICATION
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• Introduction
• Plant Pathogens and Plant Pests
• Plant Diseases
• Plant Immunity: An Overview
• Passive Defenses
• Basal or Nonspecific Plant Defense
• Pathogen Race-Specific Resistance
• Acquired Resistance and Elicitors of Natural Plant Defense Mechanisms
• Quantitative Resistance
• Molecular Models of Specific Host-Pathogen Recognition
• PRRs and WAKs: PAMPs and DAMPs Detectors
• NLRs: Detectors of Pathogen Effectors
• Molecular Classification of Plant Resistance Genes
• Strategies and Mechanisms for Plant Resistance Protein Function
• Signal Transduction Pathways Activated During Plant Resistance to Pathogens
• Transcriptional Reprogramming in Plant Defense
• Insights into the Role of Epigenetics in Controlling Disease Resistance in Plants
• Plant Defense Gene Expression and Physiological Response
• Contribution of Genomics to the Study of Resistance in Cultivated Plants
• State of the Art and Perspectives of Genetic Engineering of Plant Resistance to Diseases
• Durability of Plant Resistance to Pathogens and Pests
• References