In defense of Maize. The genetics controlling disease resistance and defense response in maize.

Plants employ a number of mechanisms to defend themselves against diseases, including preformed defenses and defenses induced by both non-specific and specific recognition events.  We are interested in the natural (standing) genetic variation in maize that controls the strength and effectiveness of these defenses.  I will discuss a number of genes and mechanisms we have identified that control variation in a range of different types of disease resistance and defense response.  In particular, I will discuss connections between resistance to different diseases,  connections between variation in ostensibly different types of defense response and will focus on the control of the defense response conferred by the specific maize disease resistance protein Rp1-D.