Management of plant diseases through Host plant resistance (HPR) Date: ……
Host plant resistance is…..
“The inherent ability of an organism (i.e., the crop plant) to resist or withstand the pathogen”.
“The characters that enable a plant to avoid, tolerate or recover from attacks of pests (insects
etc.) under conditions that would cause greater injury to other plants of the same species” (Painter,
R.H. 1951).
“The heritable characteristics possessed by the plant which influence the ultimate degree of
damage done by the insect (pests)” (Maxwell, F.G., 1972).
The hereditary transmission of disease resistance from parent to offspring follows ‘Mendelian’
inheritance.
History
1. R. H. Biffen (1905) –
Reported the genetic basis of disease resistance in yellow rust of wheat (Puccinia striiformis).
He also reported that disease resistance is heritable and inherited in ‘Mendelian’ fashion. The
disease resistance and susceptibility are inherited independent of other characters.
2. HH Flor (1956)-
Showed that for each gene for resistance in the host there was a corresponding gene for
avirulence in the pathogen and for each gene for virulence in the pathogen there was a gene
for susceptibility in the host plant.
He gave gene-for-gene hypothesis in Melampsora lini and Linseed (1952).
3. J.E.Vanderplank (1963) -
suggested that there are two kinds of resistance:
one, known as vertical resistance, is controlled by a few “major” resistance genes and is
strong but is effective only against one or a few specific races of the pathogen, and the
other, known as horizontal resistance, is determined by many “minor” resistance genes
and is weaker but is effective against all races of a pathogen species.
Resistant varieties:
Ensure protection against many important diseases.
Save the time, energy and money spent on other measures of control.
Resistant varieties are the only practical method of management diseases caused by viruses,
phytoplasmas, wilts, and rusts etc. for which chemical control is very expensive and
impractical.
In crops of low cash value, chemical and other methods of management often become too
expensive, therefore, development of varieties resistant to important diseases is an acceptable
recommendation for disease management.
Concepts of Plant Disease Resistance:
Terminology:
Pathogenicity is the ability of a pathogen to attack a host.
Virulence: The degree of pathogenicity of a given pathogen.
Aggressiveness: Quantitative measure of pathogenicity and spread of pathogen which is
manifested by spread of new strains, rate of spread, yield loss and infectiousness. Or in other
words, aggressiveness of a pathogen is its fitness i.e. the ability of a pathogen to survive and
reproduce. The fitness of a pathogen or parasite can be quantified by measuring its
reproductive rate, rate of multiplication, efficiency of infection, and amount of disease caused.
Pathogenicity includes virulence and aggressiveness. Virulent strains of pathogen cause
much severe symptoms of the disease and they carry the virulence gene that enables it to
attack a particular host genotype. Virulence is due to the action of one or a few genes.
An aggressive strain of a pathogen causes severe disease on all the host genotypes which they
are able to attack and aggressiveness is polygenically inherited.
Host – Pathogen relationship:
A disease is the result of an interaction of genes governing resistance in the host with those
governing pathogenicity in the pathogen.
The resistance of a crop to a physiological race of the pathogen depends not only on the
genotype of the host for resistance (governed by R genes), but also upon the genotype of the
pathogen for virulence or aggressiveness (governed by Avr genes).
(Gene for gene hypothesis given by H.H. Flor in Mepampsoa lini and linseed Linseed rust
disease)
Types of Resistance
1. Ecological Resistance or Pseudo resistance
Apparent resistance resulting from transitory characters in potentially susceptible host plants due
to environmental conditions. Pseudoresistance may be classified into 3 categories
a) Host evasion- Host may pass through the most susceptible stage quickly or at a time
when insects/pests are less or evade injury by early maturing. This pertains to the whole
population of host plant.
b) Induced Resistance- Increase in resistance temporarily as a result of some changed
conditions of plants or environment such as change in the amount of water or nutrient
status of soil
c) Escape- Absence of infestation or injury to host plant due to transitory process like
incomplete infestation. This pertains to few individuals of host.
2. Genetic Resistance
A. Based on number of genes
a) Monogenic resistance: Controlled by single gene Easy to incorporate into plants by
breeding Easy to break also
b) Oligogenic resistance: Controlled by few genes
c) Polygenic resistance: Controlled by many genes
d) Major gene resistance: Controlled by one or few major genes (vertical resistance)
e) Minor gene resistance: Controlled by many minor genes.
The cumulative effect of minor genes is called adult resistance or mature resistance or field
resistance. Also called horizontal resistance
B. Based on biotype reaction
a) Vertical resistance: Effective against specific biotypes (specific resistance)
b) Horizontal resistance: Effective against all the known biotypes (Non specific resistance)
Examples of R genes:
In 1992, the first R gene, the maize Hm1 gene, was located, isolated, and sequenced, and its
function was described at the molecular level. The Hm1 R gene makes corn plants of certain
varieties resistant to race 1 of the fungus Cochliobolus carbonum, which causes a leaf spot
disease on susceptible corn varieties.
Race 1 of C. carbonum (the asexual stage of which is Bipolaris (=Helminthosporium)
carbonum), produces a host-specific toxin, the HC toxin. The toxin is a pathogenicity factor for
race 1.
Pto gene of tomato, so called because it confers resistance in tomato to the bacterial speck-
causing strains of P. syringae pv. tomato that carry the avirulence gene avrPto.
Tomato Cf2, Cf4, Cf5, and Cf9 genes confer resistance to the leaf mold-causing fungus
Cladosporium fulvum races.
Advantages of host resistance
Host plant resistance is a simple, practical, effective and economical method of plant
disease management.
Apart from ensuring protection from diseases, they can also save time, money and energy
spent on other methods of control and avoids environmental pollution with chemicals.
It is the only practical method of managing diseases like wilts, rusts and others caused by
viruses in which chemical control is very expensive and impractical.
In low value crops, where other methods are often too expensive, development of varieties
resistant to common and important diseases can be an acceptable recommendation for the
farmers.
No adverse effect on environment and man, rather the resistant cultivars put a constant and
cumulative effect on pathogen.
Host plant involves no extra cost to the farmers and does not require inputs and application
skills.
Host plant resistance can be best utilized through gene deployment and gene pyramiding to
resist the chances of breakdown of resistance (HPR).
Disadvantages of host plant resistance
The development of pathogen resistant variety takes 5-10 years.
Host plant resistance can put a selection pressure on pathogen to the extent that it may lead
to the evolution of new biotypes of pathogen.
Introduction of varieties with resistance to one pathogen leads to the emergence of new
pathogen problem because of the absence of competition from the key pathogen.
Resistant varieties
1. Genetically modified plants are generally used to control the viral diseases, e.g., a
transgenic papaya cultivar ‘Rainbow’ has been developed which is resistant to papaya
ring spot virus in the US.
2. Wheat varieties resistant to Ug99 against Ug99 Race of stem (black) rust.
3. Tomato Varieties-
Arka Rakshak- triple disease resistant hybrid (ToLCV, bacterial wilt and early blight)
Utkal Pallavi, Utkal Deepti- resistant to bacterial wilt and nematode wilt,
Utkal Kumari- resistant to bacterial wilt,
Utkal Urbashi- resistant to bacterial wilt and tolerant to early blight,
4. Sugarcane-
Sabita, Neelamadhab- resistant to red rot and wilt.
5. Groundnut varieties-
Jawan- resistant to leaf spot,
Smruti- resistant to collar rot, stem rot, bold seed
6. Sesame-
Vinayak- resistant to stem rot,
Kalika- resistant to leaf spot diseases
7. Blackgram variey-
Ujala- moderately resistant to powdery mildew, YMV & Cercospora leaf spot.
8. Greengram-
Dhauli- tolerant to Cercospora leaf spot & resistant to powdery mildew,
Kamdev- resistant to YMV, high yielder.
9. Ginger-
Roma- tolerance to rhizome rot, leaf blotch, leaf spot, rhizome scales and
Surama- resistant to blotch, leaf borers and rhizome scales
10. Okra -
Utkal Gaurav- resistant to YVMV disease
11. Brinjal Varieties-
Utkal Tarini- resistant to bacterial wilt disease
Utkal Keshari- tolerant to bacterial wilt
Utkal Madhuri- resistant to bacterial wilt
Utkal Jyoti- tolerant to bacterial wilt
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**Additional matter:
Induction of host resistance
Plants actively respond to a variety of environmental stimuli , including gravity, light,
temperature, physical stress, water and nutrient availability.
Plants also respond to a variety of chemical stimuli produced by soil- and plant-associated
microbes.
Such stimuli can either induce or condition plant host defence through biochemical changes
that enhance resistance against subsequent infection by a variety of pathogens.
Induction of host defence can be local and/or systemic in nature depending on the type,
source, and amount of stimuli.
The systemic acquired resistance (SAR) is mediated by salicylic acid (SA), a compound
which is frequently produced following pathogen infection and typically leads to the
expression of pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins.
These PR proteins include a variety of enzymes, some of which may act directly to lyse the
invading cells, reinforce cell wall boundaries to resist infections, or induce localized cell
death.
Whereas, the induced systemic resistance (ISR) is mediated by jasmonic acid (JA)
and/or ethylene, which are produced following applications of some non-pathogenic
rhizobacteria.
Interestingly, the SA- and JA- dependent defense pathways can be mutually antagonistic,
and some bacterial pathogens take advantage of this to overcome the SAR.
Pathogenic strains of Pseudomonas syringae produce coronatine, which is similar to JA, to
overcome the SA-mediated pathway.
Because various host-resistance pathways can be activated to varying degrees by different
microbes and insect feeding, it is plausible that multiple stimuli are constantly being
received and processed by the plant.
Thus, the magnitude and duration of host defence induction will likely vary over time.
Genetically improved plants
Genes from plants, microbes and animals can be combined and introduced in to the living
cells of other organisms, and the organisms that have genes from other species inserted into
their genome are called transgenics.
Production of disease resistant transgenic plants has been achieved by this method; certain
genes are inserted in to plant genome that confers resistance to pathogens such as
viruses, fungi and insects.
These transgenic plants reduce the pesticide use and thereby provide environmental
benefits while reducing farmers cost.
Genetically modified plants are generally used to control the viral diseases, e.g., a
transgenic papaya cultivar ‘Rainbow’ has been developed which is resistant to papaya
ring spot virus in the US.
