By Max Hunter
About this bookRecent years have seen tremendous progress in unraveling the molecular basis of different plant-microbe interactions. Knowledge has accumulated on the mecha nisms of the microbial infection of plants, which can lead to either disease or resistance. Cell death caused by pathogen infection has been of great interest for many years because of its association with plant resistance. There appear to be two types of plant cell death associated with pathogen infection, a rapid hypersensitive cell death localized at the site of infection during an incompatible interaction between a resistant plant and an avirulent pathogen, and a slow, normosensitive plant cell death that spreads beyond the site of infection during some compatible interactions involving a susceptible plant and a virulent, necrogenic pathogen. Based on these observations, insertion of a single suitable gene in a particular plant has yielded promising results in imparting resistance against specific infection or disease.
