New Aspects of Gene-for-Gene Interactions for Disease Resistance in Plant

Disease resistance in plants is often controlled by gene-for-gene mechanism in which avirulence (avr) gene products encoding by pathogens are specifically recognized, either directly or indirectly by plant disease resistance (R) gene products. Recent studies arising from molecular cloning of a number of R genes from various plant species that confer resistance to different pathogens and corresponding avr genes from various pathogens resulted in the accumulation of a wealth of knowledge on mode of action of gene-for-gene interaction. Specially, members of the NBS-LRR class of R genes encoding proteins containing a nucleotide binding site (NBS) and carboxyl-terminal leucine-rich repeats (LRRs) confer resistance to very different types of phytopathogens, such as bacteria, fungi, oomycetes, viruses, nematodes and aphids. This article reviewed the molecular events that occur up-stream of defense response pathway, specially, bacterial avr gene protein recognition mediated by NBS-LRR type R gene product in plant based on current research results of well studied model plants.