Fusarium wilt continues to be an increasing problem in almost all major cotton growing regions of Australia. The severe impact of the disease is a major concern due to the absence or low resistance to this disease in most cotton cultivars. Control of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp vasinfectum (Fov), presents a key challenge to researchers and breeders, particularly with the difficulty involved in the reduction of disease loads in infected soils. Since the appearance of Fov in 1992 there is a pressing need to identify resistance/antifungal genes in either Gossypium or other plant species that can be transferred to elite cultivars. We identified a protein called NaDl which protects the flowers of the ornamental Tobacco, Nicotiana alata from damage by fungal pathogens (Lay et al. 2002). The protein is a member of the plant defensin family, a group of small, cystsine-rich proteins with anti-microbial activity. NaDl inhibits the spore germination and hyphal growth of Fov in in-vitro assays (fig. I). The gene coding for NaDl has been cloned (Lay et al. 2002) and transferred into cotton.