Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2015, 16, 19248-19290; doi:10.3390/ijms160819248 OPEN ACCESS International Journal of Molecular Sciences ISSN 1422-0067 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijms Review Disease Resistance Gene Analogs (RGAs) in Plants Manoj Kumar Sekhwal 1,†, Pingchuan Li 1,†, Irene Lam 1, Xiue Wang 2, Sylvie Cloutier 3 and Frank M. You 1,4,* 1 Cereal Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Morden, MB R6M 1Y5, Canada; E-Mails:
[email protected] (M.K.S.);
[email protected] (P.L.);
[email protected] (I.L.) 2 National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement, Cytogenetics Institute, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China; E-Mail:
[email protected] 3 Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON K1A 0C6, Canada; E-Mail:
[email protected] 4 Plant Science Department, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N6, Canada † These authors contributed equally to this work. * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +1-204-822-7525; Fax: +1-204-822-7507. Academic Editor: Marcello Iriti Received: 20 May 2015 / Accepted: 6 August 2015 / Published: 14 August 2015 Abstract: Plants have developed effective mechanisms to recognize and respond to infections caused by pathogens. Plant resistance gene analogs (RGAs), as resistance (R) gene candidates, have conserved domains and motifs that play specific roles in pathogens’ resistance. Well-known RGAs are nucleotide binding site leucine rich repeats, receptor like kinases, and receptor like proteins. Others include pentatricopeptide repeats and apoplastic peroxidases.