Plant Pathogen Resistance Biotechnology

Plant pathogens and disease are one of the most significant challenges to survival that plants face. A microbial, viral, or fungal disease outbreak can decimate crop yields and have severe effects on global food supply. Understanding the molecular underpinnings of immune response and using this understanding to develop biotechnological tools to enhance plant defense to pathogens has great potential for lessening the impacts of plant disease outbreaks. "Plant Pathogen Resistance Biotechnology" provides an in depth survey of the biological strategies being used to make transgenic disease resistant plants. "Plant Pathogen Resistance Biotechnology" is divided into three sections. The first section explore the biological and molecular underpinnings that trigger plant immunity and translating our understanding of these mechanism into applicable biotechnologies. The second section reviews case studies of globally important crop diseases that have not been defeated by traditional breeding methods and discuss the biotechnological avenues now being explored. The final section reviews the high-tech alternatives to genetic engineering for developing disease resistant traits, which often rely on biotechnological methodologies and results obtained using transgenic tools.