Secretion-Based Modes of Action of Biocontrol Agents with a Focus on .

Plant pathogens challenge our efforts to maximize crop production due to their ability to rapidly develop resistance to pesticides. Fungal biocontrol agents have become an important alternative to chemical fungicides, due to environmental concerns related to the latter. Here we review the complex modes of action of biocontrol agents in general and epiphytic yeasts belonging to the genus specifically and in particular.

Characterization of the Role of a Non-GPCR Membrane-Bound CFEM Protein in the Pathogenicity and Germination of .

The necrotrophic fungus , is considered a major cause of postharvest losses in a wide range of crops. The common fungal extracellular membrane protein (CFEM), containing a conserved eight-cysteine pattern, was found exclusively in fungi. Previous studies in phytopathogenic fungi have demonstrated the role of membrane-bound and secreted CFEM-containing proteins in different aspects of fungal virulence.

Transcriptome Profiling Data of Infection on Whole Plant .

is a foliar necrotrophic fungal-pathogen capable of infecting >580 genera of plants, is often used as model organism for studying fungal-host interactions. We used RNAseq to study transcriptome of infection on a major (worldwide) vegetable crop, tomato (). Most previous works explored only few infection stages, using RNA extracted from entire leaf-organ diluting the expression of studied infected region.

Using genomic analysis to identify tomato Tm-2 resistance-breaking mutations and their underlying evolutionary path in a new and emerging tobamovirus.

In September 2014, a new tobamovirus was discovered in Israel that was able to break Tm-2-mediated resistance in tomato that had lasted 55 years. The virus was isolated, and sequencing of its genome showed it to be tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV), a new tobamovirus recently identified in Jordan. Previous studies on mutant viruses that cause resistance breaking, including Tm-2-mediated resistance, demonstrated that this phenotype had resulted from only a few mutations.

Highly efficient de novo mutant identification in a Sorghum bicolor TILLING population using the ComSeq approach.

Screening large populations for carriers of known or de novo rare single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) is required both in Targeting induced local lesions in genomes (TILLING) experiments in plants and in screening of human populations. We previously suggested an approach that combines the mathematical field of compressed sensing with next-generation sequencing to allow such large-scale screening. Based on pooled measurements, this method identifies multiple carriers of heterozygous or homozygous rare alleles while using only a small fraction of resources.