RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) participate in a diverse set of biological processes in plants, but their functions and underlying mechanisms in plant-pathogen interactions are largely unknown. We previously showed that Arabidopsis thaliana BPA1-LIKE PROTEIN3 (BPL3) belongs to a conserved plant RBP family and negatively regulates reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and cell death under biotic stress. In this study, we demonstrate that BPL3 suppresses FORKED-LIKE7 (FL7) transcript accumulation and raises levels of the cis-natural antisense long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) of FL7 (nalncFL7).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOomycete and fungal pathogens cause billions of dollars of damage to crops worldwide annually. Therefore, there remains a need for broad-spectrum resistance genes, especially ones that target pathogens but do not interfere with colonization by beneficial microbes. Motivated by evidence suggesting that phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate (PI3P) may be involved in the delivery of some oomycete and fungal virulence effector proteins, we created stable transgenic soybean plants that express and secrete two different PI3P-binding proteins, GmPH1 and VAM7, in an effort to interfere with effector delivery and confer resistance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Health Perspect
June 2022
Background: Positive correlations have been reported between wastewater SARS-CoV-2 concentrations and a community's burden of infection, disease or both. However, previous studies mostly compared wastewater to clinical case counts or nonrepresentative convenience samples, limiting their quantitative potential.
Objectives: This study examined whether wastewater SARS-CoV-2 concentrations could provide better estimations for SARS-CoV-2 community prevalence than reported cases of COVID-19.
Being found in all eukaryotes investigated, acyl-CoA-binding proteins (ACBPs) participate in lipid metabolism via specifically binding acyl-CoA esters with high affinity. The structures and functions of ACBP family proteins have been extensively described in yeasts, fungi, plants and mammals, but not oomycetes. In the present study, seven ACBP genes named PsACBP1-7 were identified from the genome of Phytophthora sojae, an oomycete pathogen of soybean.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExtracellular vesicles (EVs) represent a prominent mechanism of transport and interaction between cells, especially microbes. Increasing evidence indicates that EVs play a key role in the physiological and pathological processes of pathogens and other symbionts. Recent research has focused on the specific functions of these vesicles during pathogen-host interactions, including trans-kingdom delivery of small RNAs, proteins and metabolites.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFis an oomycete that causes stem and root rot disease in soybean. delivers many RxLR effector proteins, including Avr1b, into host cells to promote infection. We show here that Avr1b interacts with the soybean U-box protein, GmPUB1-1, in yeast two-hybrid, pull down, and bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BIFC) assays.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFShotgun metagenomic sequencing has transformed our understanding of microbial community ecology. However, preparing metagenomic libraries for high-throughput DNA sequencing remains a costly, labor-intensive, and time-consuming procedure, which in turn limits the utility of metagenomes. Several library preparation procedures have recently been developed to offset these costs, but it is unclear how these newer procedures compare to current standards in the field.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFis a destructive pathogen causing root rot and dieback diseases on hundreds of economically and ecologically important plant species. Effective transformation systems enable modifications of candidate genes to understand the pathogenesis of . A previous study reported a polyethylene glycol and calcium dichloride (PEG/CaCl)-mediated protoplast transformation method of .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhytophthora pathogens are a persistent threat to the world's commercially important agricultural crops, including potato and soybean. Current strategies aim at reducing crop losses rely mostly on disease-resistance breeding and chemical pesticides, which can be frequently overcome by the rapid adaptive evolution of pathogens. Transgenic crops with intrinsic disease resistance offer a promising alternative and continue to be developed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFlumorph is a carboxylic acid amide (CAA) fungicide with high activity against oomycetes. However, evolution to CAAs from low resistance to high resistance has never been reported. This study investigated the basis of resistance evolution of flumorph in .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTranscriptional plasticity enables oomycetes to rapidly adapt to environmental challenges including emerging host resistance. For example, the soybean pathogen can overcome resistance conferred by the host resistance gene through natural silencing of its corresponding effector gene, . With the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing system, it is possible to generate site-specific knock-out (KO) and knock-in (KI) mutants and to investigate the biological functions of target genes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOomycete pathogens such as secrete a repertoire of effectors into host cells to manipulate host immunity and benefit infection. In this study, we found that an RxLR effector, Avr1d, promoted infection in soybean hairy roots. Using a yeast two-hybrid screen, we identified the soybean E3 ubiquitin ligase GmPUB13 as a host target for Avr1d.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
November 2020
Hosts and pathogens are engaged in a continuous evolutionary struggle for physiological dominance. A major site of this struggle is the apoplast. In -soybean interactions, PsXEG1, a pathogen-secreted apoplastic endoglucanase, is a key focal point of this struggle, and the subject of two layers of host defense and pathogen counterdefense.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFungal pathogens are seriously threatening food security and natural ecosystems; efficient and environmentally friendly control methods are essential to help safeguard such resources for increasing human populations on a global scale. Here, we find that Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, a widespread pathogen of dicotyledons, can grow endophytically in wheat, rice, barley, maize, and oat, providing protection against Fusarium head blight, stripe rust, and rice blast. Protection is also provided by disabled S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecognition of microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) by pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) triggers the first line of inducible defence against invading pathogens. Receptor-like cytoplasmic kinases (RLCKs) are convergent regulators that associate with multiple PRRs in plants. The mechanisms that underlie the activation of RLCKs are unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCentromeres are chromosomal regions that serve as platforms for kinetochore assembly and spindle attachments, ensuring accurate chromosome segregation during cell division. Despite functional conservation, centromere DNA sequences are diverse and often repetitive, making them challenging to assemble and identify. Here, we describe centromeres in an oomycete Phytophthora sojae by combining long-read sequencing-based genome assembly and chromatin immunoprecipitation for the centromeric histone CENP-A followed by high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have roles in gene regulation, epigenetics, and molecular scaffolding and it is hypothesized that they underlie some mammalian evolutionary adaptations. However, for many mammalian species, the absence of a genome assembly precludes the comprehensive identification of lncRNAs. The genome of the American beaver (Castor canadensis) has recently been sequenced, setting the stage for the systematic identification of beaver lncRNAs and the characterization of their expression in various tissues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Microbiol
November 2019
Due to the monocultural basis of agricultural crops, mutated plant microbes with increased pathogenicity can easily spread in the field and lead to serious yield losses. As a major threat to a wide range of crop plants, oomycete pathogens continuously undergo adaptive evolution to overcome plant defense barriers. However, the genetic basis of their evolution at the molecular level remains largely unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe relentless adaptability of pathogen populations is a major obstacle to effective disease control measures. Increasing evidence suggests that gene transcriptional polymorphisms are a strategy deployed by pathogens to evade host immunity. However, the underlying mechanisms of transcriptional plasticity remain largely elusive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF, a genus of oomycetes, contains many devastating plant pathogens, which cause substantial economic losses worldwide. Recently, CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing tool was introduced into to delineate the functionality of individual genes. The available selection markers for transformation, however, are limited, which can restrain transgenic manipulation in some cases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPuccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), a biotrophic plant pathogen, secretes numerous effectors to modulate host defense systems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOomycete pathogens secrete numerous effectors to manipulate host immunity. While some effectors share a conserved structural fold, it remains unclear if any have conserved host targets. Avr3a-like family effectors, which are related to Phytophthora infestans effector PiAvr3a and are widely distributed across diverse clades of Phytophthora species, were used to study this question.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Tethering of the plasma membrane (PM) and many organelles to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) for communication and lipid exchange has been widely reported. However, despite growing interest in multi-vesicular bodies (MVBs) as possible sources of exosomes, tethering of MVBs to the PM has not been reported. Here we show that MVBs and the vacuolar membrane (tonoplast) could be tethered to the PM (PM-MVB/TP tethering) by artificial protein fusions or bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) complexes that contain a peripheral membrane protein that binds the PM and also a protein that binds MVBs or the tonoplast.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF