Plant-pathogen interactions: Genetic and comparative analyses

The interactions between plants and pathogens can be shifted to favor either plant of pathogen by small changes in the environment, primarily temperature and plant nutrition, and it leaves a quandary as to whether the plant on pathogen is most affected by the change in the environment. The stage of development of a plant can affect the resistance or susceptibility to a pathogen. A plant may be susceptible to a given pathogen a one stage of development but resistant at another stage of development. The view of the gene-for-gene hypotheses as a one-for-one relationship is not supported by experiments that ask whether avirulence genes and resistance genes function alone. The term genomics has been intemreted several different ways, but its most useful impact on studies of host-pathogen interactions will, most likely, be to find all the pieces to the puzzle of how plants and pathogens communicate.