Even with today's advanced agricultural technologies, plant diseases can still be extremely devastating to crops, causing billions of dollars in losses worldwide every year. Begomoviruses represent a prominent example of this threat—these whitefly-transmitted pathogens cause yellow leaf curl disease in peppers and can destroy up to 100% of fruit yield in affected fields across Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Breeding crops that are resistant to begomoviruses has long been the most effective and widely used strategy for preventing such massive losses. Though usually effective, this approach has serious limitations, especially when dealing with mixed infections. Scientists have successfully identified resistance genes against specific begomovirus species, but developing broad-spectrum protection for the complex mixtures of viruses commonly found in agricultural settings has proven far more difficult.
Fortunately, a research team led by Associate Professor Sota Koeda from the Graduate School of Agriculture at Kindai University, Japan, has recently made an important breakthrough in addressing this challenge. Their latest study, published online in the journal Plant Disease on June 2, 2025, demonstrates how combining two different resistance genes can provide robust protection against even the most virulent begomovirus combinations. This work was co-authored by Ms. Mika Onouchi, Ms. Namiko Mori, and Ms. Nadya Syafira Pohan, all from Kindai University.
Read more at Phys.Org
