Researchers develop new defense against fungus threatening global food security

An international research team, led by the John Innes Centre in the United Kingdom with collaborators from Kobe University in Japan, has developed an experimental method to protect major crops from a devastating fungus. The research focuses on Magnaporthe oryzae, the pathogen responsible for blast disease, which affects rice, wheat, and barley. This fungus is a significant threat to global food security, with rice blast alone destroying enough rice annually to feed approximately 60 million people.

By modifying the natural immune receptors of plants, known as TKP proteins, scientists have demonstrated a capability called ‘dual specificity’. This allows the engineered receptors to recognize multiple different fungal molecules simultaneously. While the technology is currently in the experimental stage and has been tested on individual cells, it offers a potential pathway to developing crops with more durable resistance to the most severe fungal diseases affecting cereals in Asia and Africa.