Hidden genetic switch could unlock stronger disease resistance in crops     

Feeding a growing global population sustainably will depend not only on new food technologies, but also on the resilience of the crops that underpin them.

Nutrient-rich crops such as potatoes, pulses, legumes and cereals are central to future food systems, from plant-based ingredients to fermentation feedstocks. Yet these crops remain vulnerable to disease, creating risks for yield, affordability and supply chain stability.

History illustrates the scale of this threat. Potato late blight, caused by the pathogen Phytophthora infestans drove devastating potato crop failures in the 1840s and contributed to the Great Irish Famine, during which around one million people died and a further one to two million emigrated. Today, it remains one of the world’s most destructive crop diseases, causing up to US$10 billion in losses each year through reduced yields and disease management costs, highlighting the continuing threat that plant diseases pose to global food security.

Now, scientists at the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein and the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial College London, working with collaborators at Nanjing Agricultural University and The Sainsbury Laboratory, have uncovered a molecular mechanism that helps plants activate immune defences only when they are needed.

Published in Science, the study shows that plants can use surface immune signals to trigger alternative mRNA splicing, a process that removes a built-in “safety lock” from an intracellular immune receptor. This allows the receptor to activate strong disease resistance while reducing the risk of harmful immune overreaction.

The discovery could inform new strategies for engineering or breeding crops with more durable resistance to disease, helping reduce crop losses, lower reliance on pesticides and strengthen the agricultural foundations of sustainable protein production.