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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1994 Oct 25;91(22):10445–10449. doi: 10.1073/pnas.91.22.10445

Developmentally regulated cell death on expression of the fungal avirulence gene Avr9 in tomato seedlings carrying the disease-resistance gene Cf-9.

K E Hammond-Kosack 1, K Harrison 1, J D Jones 1
PMCID: PMC45037  PMID: 7937972

Abstract

Plant defense responses are induced when the products of disease-resistance genes and pathogen avirulence genes interact. We report here the effects of expressing the Cladosporium fulvum avirulence Avr9 gene product in a tomato line containing the Cf-9 disease-resistance gene. A synthetic Avr9 gene was constructed to produce constitutive high-level expression of AVR9 peptide in the plant apoplast. Avr9 expression in Cf-9-containing tomato lines is lethal, but cell death is developmentally regulated, in that necrosis is not visible until 10 days after planting seed. Plant lines lacking Cf-9 and expressing Avr9 remain healthy. The synthetic Avr9 gene exhibited the same specificity of action as the authentic C. fulvum Avr9 gene. Our results have significant implications for strategies using the gene combination Avr9/Cf-9 to engineer plants with enhanced disease resistance.

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Selected References

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