Birch lab discover new knowledge in fight against potato blight disease

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"This study reveals that protecting the host protein SWAP70 by reducing the activity of NRL1, a negative regulator of immunity, could provide a method to combat late blight disease"

Potato blight, caused by the water mould Phytophthora infestans, is the major disease of potatoes worldwide and is thus a threat to food security. New research from the Birch lab in the University of Dundee's Division of Plant Sciences, based at the James Hutton Institute, has discovered a mechanism that could combat late blight disease in potato crops. The findings have been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

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