Researchers studied a specific protein called PcLRR-RK3 that helps Phytophthora capsici, a disease-causing organism, infect plants. By reducing the amount of this protein, they found that the pathogen became much weaker, could not grow as well, and could not successfully infect plants. This protein sits on the surface of the pathogen’s cells and acts like a communication tool that the organism needs to develop and cause disease.