Plants versus pathogens: an evolutionary arms race

Jonathan P. Anderson; Cynthia A. Gleason; Rhonda C. Foley; Peter H. Thrall; Jeremy B. Burdon; Karam B. Singh

doi:10.1071/FP09304

EVOLUTIONARY REVIEW

Plants versus pathogens: an evolutionary arms race

Jonathan P. Anderson ^A , Cynthia A. Gleason ^A , Rhonda C. Foley ^A , Peter H. Thrall ^B , Jeremy B. Burdon ^B and Karam B. Singh ^A ^C ^D

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A CSIRO Plant Industry, Centre for Environment and Life Sciences, Private Bag #5, Wembley, WA 6913, Australia.

^B CSIRO Plant Industry, GPO Box 1600, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.

^C The Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Perth, WA 6009, Australia.

^D Corresponding author. Email: karam.singh@csiro.au

This paper is part of an ongoing series: ‘The Evolution of Plant Functions’.

Functional Plant Biology 37(6) 499-512 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP09304
Submitted: 21 December 2009 Accepted: 7 April 2010 Published: 20 May 2010

Abstract

The analysis of plant–pathogen interactions is a rapidly moving research field and one that is very important for productive agricultural systems. The focus of this review is on the evolution of plant defence responses and the coevolution of their pathogens, primarily from a molecular-genetic perspective. It explores the evolution of the major types of plant defence responses including pathogen associated molecular patterns and effector triggered immunity as well as the forces driving pathogen evolution, such as the mechanisms by which pathogen lineages and species evolve. Advances in our understanding of plant defence signalling, stomatal regulation, R gene–effector interactions and host specific toxins are used to highlight recent insights into the coevolutionary arms race between pathogens and plants. Finally, the review considers the intriguing question of how plants have evolved the ability to distinguish friends such as rhizobia and mycorrhiza from their many foes.

Additional keywords: bacteria, defence, disease, fungus, insect, symbiosis.

Acknowledgements

We thank members of the Singh laboratory for helpful comments. The work in the authors’ laboratories on biotic stress is supported by CSIRO, The Grains Research and Development Corporation and the National Institute of Health (NIH grant 5RO1 GM074265–01A2). We apologise to those colleagues we could not cite due to the broad scope of this review and space limitations.

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