Balancing Immunity and Yield in Crop Plants

Crop diseases cause enormous yield losses and threaten global food security. The use of highly resistant cultivars can effectively control plant diseases, but in crops, genetic immunity to disease often comes with an unintended reduction in growth and yield. Here, we review recent advances in unders...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Trends in plant science 2017-12, Vol.22 (12), p.1069-1079
Main Authors: Ning, Yuese, Liu, Wende, Wang, Guo-Liang
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural production
Cell walls
Crop diseases
Crop yield
Crops, Agricultural - genetics
Crops, Agricultural - growth & development
Crops, Agricultural - immunology
Cultivars
Disease control
Fitness
Food plants
Food security
Hormones
Immunity
Leucine
Plant Development
Plant diseases
Plant growth
Plant Growth Regulators - metabolism
Plant hormones
Plant Immunity
Plant Proteins - metabolism
Plant sciences
Proteins
Receptor mechanisms
Receptors
Reproductive fitness
Signal Transduction
Transcription factors
Transcription Factors - metabolism
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Summary:Crop diseases cause enormous yield losses and threaten global food security. The use of highly resistant cultivars can effectively control plant diseases, but in crops, genetic immunity to disease often comes with an unintended reduction in growth and yield. Here, we review recent advances in understanding how nucleotide-binding domain, leucine-rich repeat (NLR) receptors and cell wall-associated kinase (WAK) proteins function in balancing immunity and yield. We also discuss the role of plant hormones and transcription factors in regulating the trade-offs between plant growth and immunity. Finally, we describe how a novel mechanism of translational control of defense proteins can enhance immunity without the reduction in fitness. High yield and immunity to pathogens are important objectives in plant breeding. However, plant growth and immunity pathways are intertwined and usually antagonistic. Hormones are important for plant growth; however, activation of immunity redirects and initiates hormone signaling that can impair plant growth. Transcription factors act as molecular integrators to regulate the trade-offs between immunity and growth. NLR and WAK immune receptors play dual roles in immunity and yield. Pathogen-inducible translational control strategies can enhance plant immunity without fitness costs. New breeding strategies should be developed to enhance immunity without sacrificing fitness and yield.
ISSN:1360-1385
1878-4372
DOI:10.1016/j.tplants.2017.09.010