specificities. Cyclic hydroxamic acids, such as 2,4-dihydroxy-7-methoxy-1,4-benzoxazin-3-one (DIMBOA), have been shown to confer protection against both fungal pathogens and insect pests (Frey et al. 1997).

Although many preformed chemicals, such as avenacin A-1 and DIMBOA, have been shown to provide pest-protection, the great majority of natural plant chemicals that have antibiotic properties in vitro have not been proved to be active defensive compounds in vivo. The array of compounds with potential defensive capability is vast, and it includes a large number of potential animal and human toxins. For example, 49 natural products or metabolites found in cabbage are known toxins in microbial or animal models (Ames et al. 1990a). Additionally, a number of natural products in the food supply do have acute human toxicity; the cholinesterase inhibitors solanine and chaconine in potato are well-documented examples. Ames et al. (1990b) estimated that the typical American consumes such compounds at roughly 1.5 g/day, primarily in fruits and vegetables, but diets rich in fruits and vegetables are associated with lower, not higher, risks of illnesses such as certain forms of cancer and heart disease (NRC 1982). Therefore, there is not necessarily a correlation between consumption of fruits and vegetables containing compounds with toxicity in experimental systems and adverse health effects.

Although the term resistance gene is sometimes used to describe any gene that encodes a plant-protection mechanism, it is most commonly applied to a gene that triggers a defense response to a specific pest or pathogen. In this report, these pathogen-specific resistance genes will be referred to as race-specific R genes, or simply, R genes. The more general term, defensive genes, will be used to describe natural plant genes specifying antibiotic or insecticidal factors that have broad specificity. The identification and deployment of R genes have been among the most important factors in the development of high-yielding conventional crop varieties. Genes have allowed the continued cultivation of many crops in areas where virulent pathogens and detrimental pests are common (for example, leaf stem, and stripe rust in wheat) (Knott 1989; Line 1995; McIntosh and Brown 1997). In many cases, the use of R genes has permitted a reduction in reliance on externally applied chemical pesticides (Jones et al. 1995).

Genetic interactions between flax and the flax rust pathogen indicated that many R genes are effective against only particular races of a pathogen (or types of a pathogen with specific virulence properties) (Flor 1971). The races that are suppressed by a given R gene are known to