Patent ID: 8362323

Claim:
A method of increasing the resistance to a pathogen in a plant or in a part of a plant, comprising reducing activity of an Armadillo repeat ARM1 protein in a plant cell, a plant, or in a part of the plant, and selecting for a plant, plant cell, or plant part having increased pathogen resistance as compared to a corresponding control plant, plant cell, or plant part, wherein the protein is encoded by a polynucleotide comprising at least one nucleic acid molecule selected from the group consisting of: a) a nucleic acid molecule which encodes a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2; b) a nucleic acid molecule which comprises the polynucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1; and c) a nucleic acid molecule which encodes a polypeptide comprising a sequence having at least 95% sequence identity to the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2; wherein the reducing activity comprises introducing a nucleic acid molecule encoding a dsRNA, an antisense RNA, or a RNAi which targets mRNA encoding the ARM1 protein; and wherein the plant cell, plant, or part of the plant has increased resistance to a pathogen relative to a corresponding wild type plant or part thereof.