WUR researchers from various disciplines have figured out how the causative agent of potato blight infects a plant and then developed an inexpensive non-toxic substance that acts to protect plants. Controlling phytophthora is difficult, in part because the pathogen and its target (the plant) are in a perpetual arms race with each other. In order to become less dependent on pesticides, a great deal is being invested in the development of resistant crops. This is done by breeding plants and more attention is also being paid to new forms of mixed cultivation. While progress is being made, the damage remains significant. The economic cost of Phytophthora for potato cultivation alone is estimated at EUR6bn to EUR7bn each year.

But a recent discovery by Wageningen University & Research (WUR) in The Netherlands offers hope. Experts from a variety of fields, ranging from cell biologists and physicists to plant disease experts, joined forces and first found out what Phytophthora’s main weapon is and then developed a green defensive wall. The research has been published in Nature Microbiology.

“We discovered that Phytophthora uses clever tricks to sharpen its tubular infection structure to then cut through the surface of the plant with a ‘sharp knife’. Using this strategy, Phytophthora is able to infect its host, without brute force and with minimal consumption of energy. This is the first time that this mechanism has been uncovered, and really a fundamental discovery,” Joris Sprakel, Professor of Physical Chemistry and Soft Matter, said in a press release.

Professor of Phytopathology Francine Govers immediately spotted opportunities to combat phytophthora more effectively, efficiently and sustainably over time without involving the usual suspects of chemistry and plant breeding. Govers explained: “The laws of mechanics tell us that Phytophthora is unable to penetrate the plant without first attaching itself tightly to the leaf surface.”

To test this idea, as a first proof of its feasibility, the researchers sprayed the leaves of potato plants with a non-toxic and inexpensive substance that minimizes the stickiness of the leaf. “This helped reduce the rate of infection by about 65%,” the WUR reports. “In an optimized trial on artificial surfaces, this effect even veered toward 100%.”

It now seems to be only a matter of perfecting the process in order to hand Phytophthora and the potato disease a major setback. The WUR sees it as a victory for science and proof that a multidisciplinary approach to problems can lead to breakthroughs.