Telomere-to-telomere Genome Assembly of the Clubroot Pathogen Plasmodiophora Brassicae.

Plasmodiophora brassicae (Woronin, 1877), a biotrophic, obligate parasite, is the causal agent of clubroot disease in brassicas. The clubroot pathogen has been reported in more than 80 countries worldwide, causing economic losses of hundreds of millions every year. Despite its widespread impact, very little is known about the molecular strategies it employs to induce the characteristic clubs in the roots of susceptible hosts during infection, nor about the mechanisms it uses to overcome genetic resistance.

Decoding the Arsenal: Protist Effectors and Their Impact on Photosynthetic Hosts.

Interactions between various microbial pathogens including viruses, bacteria, fungi, oomycetes, and their plant hosts have traditionally been the focus of phytopathology. In recent years, a significant and growing interest in the study of eukaryotic microorganisms not classified among fungi or oomycetes has emerged. Many of these protists establish complex interactions with photosynthetic hosts, and understanding these interactions is crucial in understanding the dynamics of these parasites within traditional and emerging types of farming, including marine aquaculture.

Natural variation in Arabidopsis responses to Plasmodiophora brassicae reveals an essential role for Resistance to Plasmodiophora brasssicae 1 (RPB1).

Despite the identification of clubroot resistance genes in various Brassica crops our understanding of the genetic basis of immunity to Plasmodiophora brassicae infection in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana remains limited. To address this issue, we performed a screen of 142 natural accessions and identified 11 clubroot-resistant Arabidopsis lines. Genome-wide association analysis identified several genetic loci significantly linked with resistance.

Observation of two-step aggregation kinetics of amyloid-proteins from fractal analysis.

Self-aggregation in proteins has long been studied and modeled due to its ubiquity and importance in many biological contexts. Several models propose a two step aggregation mechanism, consisting of linear growth of fibrils and secondary growth involving branch formation. Single molecule imaging techniques such as total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy can provide direct evidence of such mechanisms, however, analyzing such large data-sets is challenging.