Zymoseptoria tritici white-collar complex integrates light, temperature and plant cues to initiate dimorphism and pathogenesis.

Transitioning from spores to hyphae is pivotal to host invasion by the plant pathogenic fungus Zymoseptoria tritici. This dimorphic switch can be initiated by high temperature in vitro (~27 °C); however, such a condition may induce cellular heat stress, questioning its relevance to field infections. Here, we study the regulation of the dimorphic switch by temperature and other factors.

The association between Major Depressive Disorder and premature death risk in hematologic and solid cancer: a longitudinal cohort study.

Background: the aim was to verify the association between Major Depressive Disorders (MDD) and the risk of premature death in people with oncological diseases, and to collect evidence about the causality of a possible association from a longitudinal perspective.

Design And Methods: it is a cohort study lasting 9 months, involving people with solid or hematologic cancers. The assessment was conducted by an ad hoc form to collect socio-demographic and clinical-oncological data, the PHQ-9 to screen MDD (cut-off ≥10) and the SF-12 to evaluate HRQoL.

Asynchronous development of Zymoseptoria tritici infection in wheat.

The fungus Zymoseptoria tritici causes Septoria tritici blotch of wheat. Pathogenicity begins with spore germination, followed by stomata invasion by hyphae, mesophyll colonization and fruiting body formation. It was previously found that entry into the plant via stomata occurs in a non-synchronized way over several days, while later developmental steps, such as early and late fruiting body formation, were reported to follow each other in time.

Conditional promoters to investigate gene function during wheat infection by Zymoseptoria tritici.

The fungus Zymoseptoria tritici causes Septoria tritici leaf blotch, which poses a serious threat to temperate-grown wheat. Recently, we described a raft of molecular tools to study the biology of this fungus in vitro. Amongst these are 5 conditional promoters (Pnar1, Pex1A, Picl1, Pgal7, PlaraB), which allow controlled over-expression or repression of target genes in cells grown in liquid culture.

Role of the penetration-resistance genes PEN1, PEN2 and PEN3 in the hypersensitive response and race-specific resistance in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Plants are highly capable of recognizing and defending themselves against invading microbes. Adapted plant pathogens secrete effector molecules to suppress the host's immune system. These molecules may be recognized by host-encoded resistance proteins, which then trigger defense in the form of the hypersensitive response (HR) leading to programmed cell death of the host tissue at the infection site.