Poster Presentation International Plant Molecular Biology Conference 2024

Engineering disease susceptibility genes for durable resistance against blackleg disease in canola (#70)

Muhammad Arslan Mahmood 1 , Harsh Raman 2 , Bertus Jacobs 3 , Anthony Millar 1 , Julian R. Greenwood 1
  1. ARC Future Crops Centre, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra , ACT, Australia
  2. NSW Department of Primary Industries , Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute, Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia
  3. Advanta Seeds Pty Ltd, Lonsdale , South Australia , Australia

Brassica napus (commonly known as Canola or oilseed rape) is a crucial crop globally, providing essential resources such as vegetable oil, livestock feed, and fuel. However, its sustainable production is threatened by the fungal pathogen Leptosphaeria maculans, which causes blackleg disease throughout all stages of the plant’s life cycle. L. maculans is a hemibiotrophic pathogen, initially causing leaf lesions and then stem canker as it penetrates inside the plant, and ultimately leading to plant death. Major control measures involve the use of chemicals and the cultivation of blackleg-varieties containing resistance (R) genes.  However, disease resistance can be short lived due to the rapid evolution of L. maculans and modifications in their effector proteins, enabling them to evade perception by the receptors encoded by R genes. Therefore, there is a need to identify an alternative approach to provide durable and broad-spectrum disease-resistance. CRISPR-mediated genome editing of resistance/susceptibility genes present promising avenues for developing disease resistance in plants. By employing site-directed nuclease 1 (SDN-1) techniques, knocking out canola susceptibility (S) genes could offer durable and broad-spectrum disease resistance to canola against multiple pathogens including L. maculans. In this poster, we will describe a pipeline for modifying S genes and developing disease-resistant and non-transgenic plant.