"These genes, if introgressed into new cultivars via breeding or alternative routes, could significantly reduce the dependency on pesticides for crop production

Scientists have developed an improved technique for capturing longer DNA fragments, doubling the size up to 7000 DNA bases that can be analysed for novel genes which provide plants with immunity to disease.

By using the RenSeq method, scientists are able to sequence Resistance (R) genes that confer disease resistance in plants. Each plant typically carries hundreds of potential R gene sequences, encoding NB-LRR proteins, identified by the presence of specific sequence motifs. R genes are often part of families of closely related sequences.

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This article was originally posted by The James Hutton Institute