Race nonspecific resistance for potato late blight.

The late blight fungus (Phytophthora infestans) rots susceptible species of potato plants. None of the major varieties of potato (Solanum tuberosum) grown in the USA is resistant to US-8, the most prevalent genotype of the fungus. Now, Junqi Song, James Bradeen and colleagues have cloned the RB gene from the wild diploid potato species, Solanum bulbocastanum, using a map-based approach in combination with long-range PCR. Transgenic plants containing the gene, normally fully susceptible, displayed broad-spectrum late blight resistance.