Biotech Updates

Researchers Create Fire-Blight Resistant Apples

March 19, 2014

Researchers from ETH Zurich and Julius Kühn Institute have created the first fire-blight resistant apple. The researchers identified and isolated the gene for fire-blight resistance in a wild apple for the first time and confirmed its function as a resistance-mediating gene. The newly discovered gene carries the genetic code for a protein that recognizes a surface protein of the pathogen, triggering a defense response in the affected plant. They said that this single gene can protect the plant against the disease.

Led by ETH-Zurich plant pathologist Cesar Gessler, the team used cis-genetic engineering and tested the fire blight resistance properties of the cis-gene apple trees in Switzerland and in Germany by infecting them with fire blight. The results revealed that the resistance gene took effect and prevented the trees from becoming infected.

For more details about this research, read the news release available at: https://www.ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2014/03/resistent-gegen-feuerbrand.html.