Soybean rust on the leaves of soybean plants and eventually kills the plants. The disease has caused serious yield loss of soybeans. In the areas where this disease is common, the yield losses can be up to 80%. In 2002, USDA reported 10-60% of yield losses in South America and Africa. Soybean rust is caused by two types of fungi, "Phakopsora pachyrhizi" and "Phakopsora meibomiae". It affects several important commercial plants, however, most notable for soybeans. Asian Soybean Rust can infect and reproduce on 90 known plant species, 20 of which are found in the United States, such as, soybeans, dry beans,
Genetically modified organism be genetically engineered and is considered a model organism for not only genetic engineering, but a range of other fields. As such the transgenic tools and procedures are well established making it one of the easiest plants to transform. Another major model organism relevant to genetic engineering is "Arabidopsis thaliana." Its small genome and short life cycle makes it easy to manipulate and it contains many homolgs to important crop species. It was the first plant sequenced, has abundant bioinformatic resources and can be transformed by simply dipping a flower in a transformed "Agrobacterium" solution. In research, plants are engineered