Young Genes To The Front -- A Strategy For Future Resistance Against Powdery Mildew?

Nonhost resistance of a plant against a microbial pathogen can be the result of a long-lasting coevolutionary optimization of resource allocation in both host and pathogen. Although this has been suggested for years, coevolutionary aspects leading to nonhost resistance in plants are not fully understood yet. Instead, most studies focus on limited subsets of genes which are differentially expressed in infected plants to describe details of defense strategies and symptoms of diseases.\n\nHere, we exploit publicly available whole genome gene expression data and combine them with evolutionary characteristics of genes to uncover a mechanism of host-pathogen coevolution. Our results suggest that metabolic efficiency in gene regulation is a key aspect leading to nonhost resistance. In addition, we find that progressing host-pathogen coevolution is accompanied by subtle, but systematic overexpression of recently founded genes. In support of our plant-specific data, we observe similar effects in animal species.