Find the culprit causing powdery mildew in barley

Scientists at the Royal London University of Technology (UK) have achieved a major breakthrough in finding "killer" to cause powdery mildew in barley.

Barley tree. (Internet photo)

Scientists have decoded the viral genome of vascular powdery mildew and found the parasitic gene called transposon .

The emergence of transposon parasitic genes has caused the ability of plants to recognize viruses to be turned upside down, thereby causing vascular powdery mildew to develop at a rapid rate.

Transposon is a genetic component that moves itself between the bacterial, plasmid or bacteriophage chromosomes and is an independent sequence of DNA sequences with special relocation characteristics.

Barley is the main source of raw materials for many main foods, and is also a source of nuclear material for the brewing industry.

The above findings are particularly important to help step by step evolve the evolution of plant pests, research new-generation agricultural technologies in preventing powdery mildew.