Viruses teach researchers how to protect corn from fungal infection

Smut fungi are agents of disease responsible for significant crop losses worldwide. Principal Investigator, Dr. Thomas Smith and Research Associate Member, Dr. Dilip Shah at The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center collaborated on a project to develop a variety of corn that is highly resistant to corn smut caused by the fungus, Ustilago maydis. The results of this research are published in the recent article, "Transgenic maize plants expressing the Totivirus antifungal protein, KP4, are highly resistant to corn smut," in Plant Biotechnology Journal .

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