One truism of plant pathology

Jeremy J. Burdon

One truism of plant pathology is that most plants are resistant to most pathogens. Thus potatoes are not attacked by Puccinia graminis tritici, the causal organism of stem rust of wheat, nor is wheat attacked by Phytophthora infestans, the causal organism of potato late blight. Although some plant pathogens possess remarkably wide host range (for example, Pythium and Rhizoctonia species responsible for seedling damping-off diseases), the majority tend to be restricted to a few closely related host species. Even within individual host species, however, causal observation and rigorous experimental investigation have often found some resistant individuals within otherwise apparently uniformly susceptible species. The aim of this chapter is to develop an understanting of the extent and genetic basis of such disease resistance mechanisms in plants.

Fonte: Burdon, J. J. 1987. Diseases and plant population biology. Cambridge, CUP.