CANBERRA, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Australian-led international research has identified a weapon used by many fungi to destroy food crops in a discovery that could help boost global food security.

In a study published on Friday by the Australian National University (ANU), the global research team discovered that an enzyme called "NUDIX hydrolase" is used by many fungal pathogens to cause disease in plants.

According to the previous research, farmers around the world lose between 10 and 23 percent of their crops to fungal disease every year.

The team, which also included researchers from Germany's RWTH Aachen University and Louisiana State University in the United States, said that uncovering the role of the enzyme in infecting plants could lead to the development of more resilient rice, fruit and vegetable crops that are safeguarded against disease.

Carl McCombe, who led the work as part of his PhD at ANU, said that the enzyme works by hijacking molecular pathways and tricking a plant into thinking it has a shortage of phosphate, triggering a starvation-like response that allows the pathogen to evade the natural immune defense and cause disease. Enditem

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