Genes for healthier plants.Like people, plants depend on strong genetic constitutions to give them disease resistance. Biologist Barbara N. Kunkel of Washington University in St. Louis “Washington University” redirects here. For other uses, see Washington (disambiguation). Washington University in St. Louis is a private, coeducational, research university located in St. Louis, Missouri. and her colleagues report identifying, cloning, and characterizing a new gene for disease resistance in plants. Kunkel found the new RPS rps abbr. revolutions per second 2 gene in Arabidopsis thaliana Noun 1. Arabidopsis thaliana - a small invasive self-pollinating weed with small white flowers; much studied by plant geneticists; the first higher plant whose complete genome sequence was described mouse-ear cress , a common weed, though she believes it may actually be widespread among plants. The gene enables a plant to make a big protein that helps fend off Pseudomonas syringae Pseudomonas syringae is a rod shaped, Gram-negative bacterium, with polar flagella. It is a member of the Pseudomonas genus, and based on 16S rRNA analysis, P. syringae has been placed in the P. syringae group[1]. , a plant-damaging bacterium. Kunkel maintains that genetic engineers may find a way to introduce the gene into cash crops that need a boost in their immunity -- perhaps even corn, beans, and tomatoes. On a related front, biologist Roger Innes of Indiana University Indiana University, main campus at Bloomington; state supported; coeducational; chartered 1820 as a seminary, opened 1824. It became a college in 1828 and a university in 1838. The medical center (run jointly with Purdue Univ. in Bloomington says he is attempting to insert into soybeans the disease resistance gene RPS3, found in wild mustard plants. Adding several resistance genes into one plant, he believes, may yield hardier crops that can fend off a much wider variety of pathogens. |
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