In collaboration with other researchers, Dr. Hailing Jin has discovered that plants use tiny lipid bubbles filled with RNA to fight gray mold. This new understanding could lead to eco-friendly RNA-based fungicides that target mold without harmful residues.

These findings were recently published in the Cell Host & Microbe journal with the title Plant mRNAs move into a fungal pathogen via extracellular vesicles to reduce infection.

The full article about these findings and the publication of Dr. Jin's research can be found on the UCR News site titled, Discovery: plants use “trojan horse” to fight mold invasions.