Publisher's Synopsis
Integrated discussions of the molecular biology and host interactions of bacterial, fungal and viral plant pathogens are presented in this book. Coverage includes the major advances made recently in the identification and cloning of bacterial genes involved in pathogenesis, virulence and host specificity. This information has given researchers a greater molecular understanding of basic disease processes in several well-defined plant-bacterial interactions. The book begins with an examination of the molecular basis of Agrobacterium transformation, including the identification of the precise mechanism of plant transformation. It then explores the molecular analysis of bacterial pathogenesis currently being investigated in many laboratories around the world. The molecular genetics of fungal pathogens are also discussed, including the technique of introducing genes into the phytopathogenic fungi by transformation.;Considering their intrinsic importance as pathogens, plant viruses receive considerable attention in several chapters. The book concludes with chapters on the production of transgenic plants possessing effective resistance to specific viruses. The last chapter previews the challenging frontier of host responses to infection, including the use of homologous or heterologous transposons to isolate plant resistance genes.
