The present invention concerns a nucleic acid molecule capable of expressing, in at least one plant tissue, a chimeric protein comprising a polygalacturonase (PG) of fungal, bacterial or insect origin and a plant polygalacturonase inhibitor protein (PGIP) plant capable of inhibiting said PG. The present invention also relates to transgenic plants that express said chimeric protein.

Provided herein are compounds and methods for increasing disease resistance and/or root length in plants.

The invention refers to the function and application of a disease-resistance gene Xa7 highly resistant to the bacterial blight of rice, belonging to the field of plant genetics. The invention discloses a gene Xa7 with high resistance to rice bacterial blight. The nucleotide sequence of gene Xa7 is shown in SEQ ID No: 1. The invention also provides the usage of the gene Xa7 to improve the resistance of rice to bacterial blight.

The invention provides a compositions and methods for controlling phenotypic traits in plants. Genes of interest are placed under the control of a gene switch to allow inducible control or expression of a gene of interest “on-demand” by treatment of the plant with a chemical ligand.

The present invention relates to plants, particularly crop plants, having enhanced tolerance to biotic stress, particularly enhanced tolerance to stress caused by a wide range of plant pathogens. The tolerant plants of the invention show enhanced expression of Arabidopsis S30 protein or of homologs or orthologs thereof.

The present invention relates to the modification of gene expression in plants in order to manipulate stomatal number, in particular to the modification of expression in plants of epidermal patterning factor (EPF). The invention also relates to genetically modified plants or plant parts with altered stomatal patterning compared to corresponding wild type plants or plant parts, where the plant stomatal development is altered by modification of the expression of EPF.

Bacterial plant pathogens such as Xanthomonas sp. and Pseudomonas syringae are developing resistance to various classes of antibiotics. A method and system for combating plant pathogenic bacterial infections have been provided. The system is configured to provide strategies to combat infections in plants caused by multi-drug resistant (MDR) plant pathogens. The strategy involves identifying potential target sites in the plant pathogen, which can be utilized to compromise its multiple virulence or essential functions at the same time. The idea used in this disclosure utilizes the fact that a conserved stretch of nucleotide sequence occurring multiple times on a pathogen genome in genomic neighborhood of genes encoding virulence factors or in vicinity of genes essential for pathogen survival encoded within the genome of the candidate pathogen can be targeted to disrupt the overall genetic machinery of the plant pathogen.

Antimicrobial peptides of general formula X.sub.0X.sub.1X.sub.2CX.sub.3X.sub.4X.sub.5CX.sub.6X.sub.7X.sub.8X.sub.9CYX.sub.10X.sub.11CX.sub.12X.sub.13 are provided. Also provided are certain formulations containing these peptides and methods of using these peptides for treating skin infections in an animal in need thereof.

The invention provides a compositions and methods for controlling phenotypic traits in plants. Genes of interest are placed under the control of a gene switch to allow inducible control or expression of a gene of interest “on-demand” by treatment of the plant with a chemical ligand.

The disclosure relates to a plant that is tolerant or resistant to species of Ca. Liberibacter. Specifically exemplified are citrus and solanaceous plants. Provided by the disclosure is a modified citrus or solanaceous plant that is resistant or tolerant to Sec-dependent effectors secreted by bacteria. Also provided by the disclosure are methods of modifying a plant genome plant to provide tolerance or resistance to species of Ca. Liberibacter. Still further provided by the disclosure are methods conferring a population of plants with tolerance or resistance to species of Ca. Liberibacter and screening that population for the plants that are tolerant or resistant to species of Ca. Liberibacter.