Disease resistance is the ability to prevent or reduce the presence of
disease
A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...
s in otherwise
susceptible hosts. It can arise from genetic or environmental factors, such as incomplete
penetrance
Penetrance in genetics is the proportion of individuals carrying a particular variant (or allele) of a gene (the genotype) that also express an associated trait (the phenotype). In medical genetics, the penetrance of a disease-causing mutation is t ...
.
Disease tolerance Tolerance to infection, or disease tolerance, is a mechanism that host organisms can use to fight parasites or pathogens that attack the host. Tolerance is not equivalent to resistance. Disease resistance is the host trait that prevents infection or ...
is different as it is the ability of a host to limit the impact of disease on host health.
In crops this includes
plant disease resistance
Plant disease resistance protects plants from pathogens in two ways: by pre-formed structures and chemicals, and by infection-induced responses of the immune system. Relative to a susceptible plant, disease resistance is the reduction of pathoge ...
and can follow a
gene-for-gene relationship
The gene-for-gene relationship was discovered by Harold Henry Flor who was working with rust (''Melampsora lini'') of flax ('' Linum usitatissimum''). Flor showed that the inheritance of both resistance in the host and parasite ability to cause d ...
.
See also
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Disease resistance in fruit and vegetables
There are a number of lines of defence against pests (that, those animals that cause damage to the plants we grow) and diseases in the orchard, principal among these being the practice of good husbandry, creating healthy soil and ensuring high st ...
*
Disease resistance breeding
References
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Diseases and disorders