Cotton plants export microRNAs to inhibit virulence gene expression in a fungal pathogen

Plant pathogenic fungi represent the largest group of disease-causing agents on crop plants, and are a constant and major threat to agriculture worldwide. Recent studies have shown that engineered production of RNA interference (RNAi)-inducing dsRNA in host plants can trigger specific fungal gene silencing and confer resistance to fungal pathogens1-7. Although these findings illustrate efficient uptake of host RNAi triggers by pathogenic fungi,...