CONSTRAINTS ON PATHOGENS ATTACKING PLANTS

Infection of plants by microorganisms is a rare event. It is even more rare for a microorganism to be a plant pathogen. Regardless of the uniqueness of this infection, from an anthropocentric perspective, no plant disease is tolerable. Although we have some information about plant disease resistance because we are continually striving for absolute resistance [immunity], we know relatively little about plant disease. We explore the constraints on plant pathogens in this paper, to familiarize the reader with the many difficulties plant pathogens have ''in making a living.'' In this way, we may better understand how plants get diseases, and use this information to manage plant diseases more intelligently.