UC Davis research reveals how gray mold adapts to plants
Gray mold, caused by the fungus Botrytis cinerea, is a common plant disease that affects hundreds of crops, including fruits, vegetables, and flowers. It can cause major losses in agriculture, reducing yields by up to 10percent in some cases.
Recent research by the University of California, Davis, led by Professor Dan Kliebenstein, has provided new insights into why this fungus is so difficult to control. The studies were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Scientists previously believed that plants respond to fungal attacks in similar ways. However, new research shows that each plant reacts differently. Even closely related crops use unique defense strategies. This explains why traditional breeding efforts have struggled to create crops that resist gray mold effectively.
“It’s like they might do little decorations on the Christmas tree, but it’s always a Christmas tree,” said Kliebenstein. “It’s why we could never figure out how to move information from one plant to help another become resistant, because what one plant is doing doesn’t actually do anything for the other plant.”
Another key finding is that the fungus itself behaves differently depending on the plant it infects. Instead of using a universal method to attack all crops, gray mold can detect the plant type and adjust its strategy. It reads the plant’s chemical signals and changes how it spreads.
This ability allows the fungus to overcome plant defenses more effectively. Because of this, current methods that focus only on strengthening plant resistance may not always work.
The researchers suggest a new direction for disease control. Instead of only focusing on plants, future work could target how the fungus identifies its host. If scientists can disrupt this process, they may be able to confuse the pathogen and reduce its damage.
This approach could help protect multiple crops at once, rather than developing solutions for each crop individually. The study involved several UC Davis researchers and was funded by the National Science Foundation.
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