Hey tech-savvy agri lovers 🌾💡! Imagine a sneaky bacterium devouring over 400 crops, including our beloved rice bowls 🍚. That's Xanthomonas for you, a global crop killer that spreads fast and dodges most defenses.
Recently, a joint Chinese-international research team published in Science a game-changing discovery: how Xanthomonas feeds on plants. They found that when the bacterium infects rice, it sends in a special enzyme, AvrBs2, which flips rice nutrients into a sugar compound called xanthosan. Then, Xanthomonas slurps up that sugar and breaks it down to fuel its growth 🦠🔬.
Here's the nutrient heist in simple steps:
- Enzyme release: AvrBs2 gets inside rice cells.
- Sugar swap: Plant nutrients become xanthosan.
- Reabsorption: Bacterium sucks xanthosan back in.
- Breakdown: Xanthosan is degraded for energy.
Armed with this insight, the team designed an anti-xanthomonadin breeding strategy. The result? Rice plants that block this nutrient pipeline, showing stronger resistance without affecting growth or metabolism 🌱. Lab tests even suggest this trick could work on other Xanthomonas foes, like citrus canker and tomato blight.
For young innovators in South and Southeast Asia—from India's paddy fields to Vietnam's rice terraces—this breakthrough is more than a lab win. It is a step toward sustainable agri tech that keeps our plates full and economies thriving ✨. Stay tuned as science levels up food security across the region!
Reference(s):
Chinese-international team unlocks new strategy against 'crop killer'
cgtn.com
