Prevalence and diversity of TAL effector-like proteins in fungal endosymbiotic spp.

Endofungal (formerly ) spp. rely on a type III secretion system to deliver mostly unidentified effector proteins when colonizing their host fungus, . The one known secreted effector family from consists of homologues of transcription activator-like (TAL) effectors, which are used by plant pathogenic and spp.

Cruciferous Weed Isolates of Yield Insight into Pathovar Genomic Relationships and Genetic Determinants of Host and Tissue Specificity.

Pathovars of cause distinct diseases on different brassicaceous hosts. The genomic relationships among pathovars as well as the genetic determinants of host range and tissue specificity remain poorly understood despite decades of research. Here, leveraging advances in multiplexed long-read technology, we fully sequenced the genomes of a collection of strains isolated from cruciferous crops and weeds in New York and California as well as strains from global collections, to investigate pathovar relationships and candidate genes for host- and tissue-specificity.

Transcriptional Profiles of a Foliar Fungal Endophyte (, Ascomycota) and Its Bacterial Symbiont (, ) Reveal Sulfur Exchange and Growth Regulation during Early Phases of Symbiotic Interaction.

Symbiosis with bacteria is widespread among eukaryotes, including fungi. Bacteria that live within fungal mycelia (endohyphal bacteria) occur in many plant-associated fungi, including diverse Mucoromycota and Dikarya. sp.

A TAL effector-like protein of an endofungal bacterium increases the stress tolerance and alters the transcriptome of the host.

Symbioses of bacteria with fungi have only recently been described and are poorly understood. In the symbiosis of (formerly ) with the fungus , bacterial type III (T3) secretion is known to be essential. Proteins resembling T3-secreted transcription activator-like (TAL) effectors of plant pathogenic bacteria are encoded in the three sequenced spp.

A polyketide synthase gene cluster associated with the sexual reproductive cycle of the banana pathogen, Pseudocercospora fijiensis.

Disease spread of Pseudocercospora fijiensis, causal agent of the black Sigatoka disease of banana, depends on ascospores produced through the sexual reproductive cycle. We used phylogenetic analysis to identify P. fijiensis homologs (PKS8-4 and Hybrid8-3) to the PKS4 polyketide synthases (PKS) from Neurospora crassa and Sordaria macrospora involved in sexual reproduction.

Convergent Evolution of Effector Protease Recognition by and Barley.

The cysteine protease AvrPphB activates the resistance protein RPS5 by cleaving a second host protein, PBS1. AvrPphB induces defense responses in other plant species, but the genes and mechanisms mediating AvrPphB recognition in those species have not been defined. Here, we show that AvrPphB induces defense responses in diverse barley cultivars.

A Confounding Effect of Bacterial Titer in a Type III Delivery-Based Assay of Eukaryotic Effector Function.

This letter describes a newly discovered confounding effect of bacterial titer in a previously published type III delivery-based assay of the fungal effector BEC1019. The original publication (Whigham et al. 2015) has been retracted as a consequence of this discovery.