Abstract: To reveal the genetic basis of the interaction between Xanthomonas pathogens and their host plants for breeding durable broad-spectrum resistance crops, the recent important progress in these fields are summarized. The devastation of plant diseases caused by Xanthomonas species is determined by Xanthomonas T3SS effectors, mainly transcription activator-like effectors (TALEs), which target effector-binding element (EBE) sites of either crop resistance (R) or susceptibility (S) genes. Then, the five types of TALE-targets in plants are briefly stated and the importance of plant general transcription factors TFIIA in the activation of NLR-type R genes in plant resistance is stressed. Finally, that gene-editing of EBEs of R or S genes is proposed to be the new strategy for resistance breeding to control crop diseases in the future.

Key words: Xanthomonas, transcription activator-like effector (TALE), resistant gene, susceptible gene, resistance breeding