Still, research continues in various parts of the continent to create more durable crops, plants that can stave off pests and disease and tolerate soil that is dry and lacking in nutrients.
Research teams at the University of Guelph in Ontario are looking at durable crops like barley, the Mars Society in Utah is trying to replicate Mars conditions in a huge desert greenhouse and there are universities all over the world looking at vertical garden design that could be applied in space.
They made Texas home, and by the time France, Spain, England and such started showing up in the early 1700s, native Texans had gone from hunter-gatherers to growing simple, durable, economical crops like corn, peppers and beans.
As other forms of coevolution are studied in natural populations, the results will help determine still other ways of selecting for more durable resistance in crop plants.
Therefore, understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying host specificity may lead to engineering more durable resistances for crop protection.
"[GM] is about making crops durable enough to survive sustained drought.
Major advances in our understanding of the molecular basis of plant immunity and of microbial infection strategies have opened new ways for engineering durable disease resistance in crop plants that are highlighted in this review.
Understanding the biological basis of phenotypic variation in A. thaliana with respect to V. longisporum resistance will provide new approaches for implementing durable resistance in cruciferous crops.
Transfer of NHR mechanisms across species may lead to development of broad-spectrum and durable resistance in economically important crop species.
Once introduced into the field, FOM can persist even after rotation with non-host crops, due to the production of chlamydospores (resting and durable spores) and its ability to colonize crop residues and roots of most crops grown in rotation [ 15].
