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Disease Resistant Tall Fescue Grass04-12-07 | News

Disease Resistant Tall Fescue Grass

Gray leaf spot causes round or oval tan spots that turn gray when there?EUR??,,????'???s high humidity. It infects blades to make the grasses die rapidly.

Researchers at North Carolina State University have discovered that inserting a specific gene from a bacterial virus into tall fescue grass makes the grass resistant to two of its biggest enemies.

The NC State researchers showed that the inserted gene ?EUR??,,????'??? the T4 lysozyme gene, a gene found in bacteriophages, or bacterial viruses ?EUR??,,????'??? conferred high resistance to gray leaf spot disease in six of 13 experimental grasses. Three of the six resistant grasses also showed high resistance to brown patch disease. These two diseases are arguably the most important ?EUR??,,????'??? and severe ?EUR??,,????'??? fungal diseases affecting tall fescue grass.

The finding has the potential to have wide applications in engineering resistance to a variety of fungal diseases in tall fescue grass ?EUR??,,????'??? a commonly utilized grass in the southeastern United States.