plant pathogen
Research Article | Ecological and Evolutionary ScienceGenome-Wide Increased Copy Number is Associated with Emergence of Dominant Clones of the Irish Potato Famine Pathogen Phytophthora infestansThe plant pathogen implicated in the Irish potato famine, Phytophthora infestans, continues to reemerge globally. Understanding changes in the genome during emergence can provide insights useful for managing this pathogen. Previous work has relied on studying individuals from the United States, South America, Europe, and China reporting that these can occur as...
Research Article | Host-Microbe BiologyThe Parauncinula polyspora Draft Genome Provides Insights into Patterns of Gene Erosion and Genome Expansion in Powdery Mildew FungiPowdery mildew fungi are widespread and agronomically relevant phytopathogens causing major yield losses. Their genomes have disproportionately large numbers of mobile genetic elements, and they have experienced a significant loss of highly conserved fungal genes. In order to learn more about the evolutionary history of this fungal group, we explored the genome of an Asian oak tree pathogen, Parauncinula polyspora, a species...
Research Article | Applied and Environmental ScienceRed- and Blue-Light Sensing in the Plant Pathogen Alternaria alternata Depends on Phytochrome and the White-Collar Protein LreALight controls many processes in filamentous fungi. The study of light regulation in a number of model organisms revealed an unexpected complexity. Although the molecular components for light sensing appear to be widely conserved in fungal genomes, the regulatory circuits and the sensitivity of certain species toward specific wavelengths seem different. In N. crassa,...
- Editor's Pick Research ArticleA Single Regulator Mediates Strategic Switching between Attachment/Spread and Growth/Virulence in the Plant Pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum
Ralstonia solanacearum is a destructive soilborne crop pathogen that wilts plants by colonizing their water-transporting xylem vessels. It produces its costly virulence factors only after it has grown to a high population density inside a host. To identify traits that this pathogen needs in other life stages, we studied a mutant that mimics the low-cell-density condition. This mutant (the ΔphcA mutant) cannot sense...