AN early warning sensor system for potato blight could help control this scourge and lead to a better understanding of how to breed resistant varieties.

In a new study recently published in The Plant Journal, researchers at Hebrew University’s Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment used a new molecular sensor system capable of entering plant cells and identifying potential diseases.

With potatoes playing a crucial role in global food security, researchers worked on developing a method to enable early detection of late blight infections. This disease – a leading cause of potato and tomato crop loss – costs an estimated $6.5bn in damages to crops worldwide each year.

The study was led by doctoral student, Matanel Hipsch, under the supervision of Dr Shilo Rosenwasser, senior lecturer and assistant professor at the Robert H Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment.

Dr Rosenwasser said: "The development of advanced biotechnological tools for the early detection of plant diseases can lead to a future research breakthrough in understanding the pathogenicity process, thereby improving food security by minimising damages to global agriculture."

This early detection of harmful disease in plant leaves uses a simple and harmless external scan. By using genetic engineering methods, researchers produced new varieties of potatoes that produced special proteins sent to different regions of the plant cells.

Then using sensitive cameras that can pick up the signals sent from the 'sensor', they were able to obtain spatial information at the level of the entire plant. According to researchers, the images produced by the cameras helped monitor the plant's physiological state throughout the development of late blight in the potato.

"In its early stages, it is difficult to identify the disease since no external signs can be seen on the leaf," explained Mr Hipsch. "In our previous study, we saw that using molecular sensors within the biological systems of potatoes is particularly effective in identifying stress conditions even before plant damage has been caused."

More Arable News:

The research findings revealed that the use of protein as a biological sensor was able to detect the diseased areas of the leaves during the 'invisible stages'. These findings also led the researchers to collaborate with Dr David Helman, from the university’s Department of Soil and Water Sciences to develop an AI-based algorithm capable of analysing the fluorescent images and distinguishing between healthy leaves and infected leaves.

Mr Hipsch pointed out: "We have seen that plants infected with late blight cause the protein to emerge from the chloroplast and accumulate outside of it. This output caused a change in the fluorescent properties of the protein, which helped to identify the points of penetration of the pathogen into the leaf."

A fascinating finding suggested that the areas infected with late blight were characterised by higher photosynthetic activity, compared to the rest of the leaf. This indicated that the pathogen maintained and even improved leaf productivity in the early stages of the disease to disguise its development in the plant.

According to the team, this new method can be used for in-depth study of the mechanisms of resistance to late blight, as well as for scanning and detecting potential substances that will improve the resistance of plants.