| 1. |
- Haas, Brian J., et al.
(författare)
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Genome sequence and analysis of the Irish potato famine pathogen Phytophthora infestans
- 2009
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 461:7262, s. 393-398
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Phytophthora infestans is the most destructive pathogen of potato and a model organism for the oomycetes, a distinct lineage of fungus-like eukaryotes that are related to organisms such as brown algae and diatoms. As the agent of the Irish potato famine in the mid-nineteenth century, P. infestans has had a tremendous effect on human history, resulting in famine and population displacement(1). To this day, it affects world agriculture by causing the most destructive disease of potato, the fourth largest food crop and a critical alternative to the major cereal crops for feeding the world's population(1). Current annual worldwide potato crop losses due to late blight are conservatively estimated at $6.7 billion(2). Management of this devastating pathogen is challenged by its remarkable speed of adaptation to control strategies such as genetically resistant cultivars(3,4). Here we report the sequence of the P. infestans genome, which at similar to 240 megabases (Mb) is by far the largest and most complex genome sequenced so far in the chromalveolates. Its expansion results from a proliferation of repetitive DNA accounting for similar to 74% of the genome. Comparison with two other Phytophthora genomes showed rapid turnover and extensive expansion of specific families of secreted disease effector proteins, including many genes that are induced during infection or are predicted to have activities that alter host physiology. These fast-evolving effector genes are localized to highly dynamic and expanded regions of the P. infestans genome. This probably plays a crucial part in the rapid adaptability of the pathogen to host plants and underpins its evolutionary potential.
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| 2. |
- Jiang, Rays H. Y., et al.
(författare)
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Distinctive Expansion of Potential Virulence Genes in the Genome of the Oomycete Fish Pathogen Saprolegnia parasitica
- 2013
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Ingår i: PLOS Genetics. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1553-7390 .- 1553-7404. ; 9:6, s. e1003272-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Oomycetes in the class Saprolegniomycetidae of the Eukaryotic kingdom Stramenopila have evolved as severe pathogens of amphibians, crustaceans, fish and insects, resulting in major losses in aquaculture and damage to aquatic ecosystems. We have sequenced the 63 Mb genome of the fresh water fish pathogen, Saprolegnia parasitica. Approximately 1/3 of the assembled genome exhibits loss of heterozygosity, indicating an efficient mechanism for revealing new variation. Comparison of S. parasitica with plant pathogenic oomycetes suggests that during evolution the host cellular environment has driven distinct patterns of gene expansion and loss in the genomes of plant and animal pathogens. S. parasitica possesses one of the largest repertoires of proteases (270) among eukaryotes that are deployed in waves at different points during infection as determined from RNA-Seq data. In contrast, despite being capable of living saprotrophically, parasitism has led to loss of inorganic nitrogen and sulfur assimilation pathways, strikingly similar to losses in obligate plant pathogenic oomycetes and fungi. The large gene families that are hallmarks of plant pathogenic oomycetes such as Phytophthora appear to be lacking in S. parasitica, including those encoding RXLR effectors, Crinkler's, and Necrosis Inducing-Like Proteins (NLP). S. parasitica also has a very large kinome of 543 kinases, 10% of which is induced upon infection. Moreover, S. parasitica encodes several genes typical of animals or animal-pathogens and lacking from other oomycetes, including disintegrins and galactose-binding lectins, whose expression and evolutionary origins implicate horizontal gene transfer in the evolution of animal pathogenesis in S. parasitica.
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| 3. |
- Masini, Laura, et al.
(författare)
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Tolerance and overcompensation to infection by Phytophthora infestans in the wild perennial climber Solanum dulcamara
- 2019
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Ingår i: Ecology and Evolution. - : Wiley. - 2045-7758. ; 9:8, s. 4557-4567
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Studies of infection by Phytophthora infestans—the causal agent of potato late blight—in wild species can provide novel insights into plant defense responses, and indicate how wild plants might be influenced by recurrent epidemics in agricultural fields. In the present study, our aim was to investigate if different clones of Solanum dulcamara (a relative of potato) collected in the wild differ in resistance and tolerance to infection by a common European isolate of P. infestans. We performed infection experiments with six S. dulcamara genotypes (clones) both in the laboratory and in the field and measured the degree of infection and plant performance traits. In the laboratory, the six evaluated genotypes varied from resistant to susceptible, as measured by degree of infection 20 days post infection. Two of the four genotypes susceptible to infection showed a quadratic (concave downward) relationship between the degree of infection and shoot length, with maximum shoot length at intermediate values of infection. This result suggests overcompensation, that is, an increase in growth in infected individuals. The number of leaves decreased with increasing degree of infection, but at different rates in the four susceptible genotypes, indicating genetic variation for tolerance. In the field, the inoculated genotypes did not show any disease symptoms, but plant biomass at the end of the growing season was higher for inoculated plants than for controls, in-line with the overcompensation detected in the laboratory. We conclude that in S. dulcamara there are indications of genetic variation for both resistance and tolerance to P. infestans infection. Moreover, some genotypes displayed overcompensation. Learning about plant tolerance and overcompensation to infection by pathogens can help broaden our understanding of plant defense in natural populations and help develop more sustainable plant protection strategies for economically important crop diseases.
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| 4. |
- Resjö, Svante, et al.
(författare)
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Proteomic analysis of phytophthora infestans reveals the importance of cell wall proteins in pathogenicity
- 2017
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Ingår i: Molecular and Cellular Proteomics. - 1535-9476 .- 1535-9484. ; 16:11, s. 1958-1971
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The oomycete Phytophthora infestans is the most harmful pathogen of potato. It causes the disease late blight, which generates increased yearly costs of up to one billion euro in the EU alone and is difficult to control. We have performed a large-scale quantitative proteomics study of six P. infestans life stages with the aim to identify proteins that change in abundance during development, with a focus on preinfectious life stages. Over 10 000 peptides from 2061 proteins were analyzed. We identified several abundance profiles of proteins that were up- or downregulated in different combinations of life stages. One of these profiles contained 59 proteins that were more abundant in germinated cysts and appressoria. A large majority of these proteins were not previously recognized as being appressorial proteins or involved in the infection process. Among those are proteins with putative roles in transport, amino acid metabolism, pathogenicity (including one RXLR effector) and cell wall structure modification. We analyzed the expression of the genes encoding nine of these proteins using RT-qPCR and found an increase in transcript levels during disease progression, in agreement with the hypothesis that these proteins are important in early infection. Among the nine proteins was a group involved in cell wall structure modification and adhesion, including three closely related, uncharacterized proteins encoded by PITG-01131, PITG-01132, and PITG-16135, here denoted Piacwp1-3. Transient silencing of these genes resulted in reduced severity of infection, indicating that these proteins are important for pathogenicity. Our results contribute to further insight into P. infestans biology, and indicate processes that might be relevant for the pathogen while preparing for host cell penetration and during infection. The mass spectrometry data have been deposited to ProteomeXchange via the PRIDE partner repository with the data set identifier PXD002446.
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| 5. |
- Grenville-Briggs, Laura J, et al.
(författare)
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Draft genome of the oomycete pathogen Phytophthora cactorum strain LV007 isolated from European beech (Fagus sylvatica)
- 2017
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Ingår i: Genomics Data. - : Elsevier. - 2213-5960. ; 12, s. 155-156
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Phytophthora cactorum is a broad host range phytopathogenic oomycete. P. cactorum strain LV007 was isolated from a diseased European Beech (Fagus sylvatica) in Malmö, Sweden in 2016. The draft genome of P. cactorum strain LV007 is 67.81 Mb. It contains 15,567 contigs and 21,876 predicted protein-coding genes. As reported for other phytopathogenic Phytophthora species, cytoplasmic effector proteins including RxLR and CRN families were identified. The genome sequence has been deposited at DDBJ/ENA/GenBank under the accession NBIJ00000000. The version described in this paper is version NBIJ01000000.
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| 6. |
- Kushwaha, Sandeep Kumar, et al.
(författare)
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Draft Genome Sequence of the Mycoparasitic Oomycete Pythium oligandrum Strain CBS 530.74
- 2017
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Ingår i: Genome Announcements. - 2169-8287. ; 5
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The oomycete Pythium oligandrum is a mycoparasite and licenced biological control agent. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of P. oligandrum strain CBS 530.74, which is 36.80 Mb. It contains 341 scaffolds and 11,647 predicted protein-coding genes. As reported for plant-pathogenic Pythium species, RXLR-type effector sequences are absent.
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| 7. |
- Lankinen, Åsa, et al.
(författare)
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Challenges and opportunities for increasing the use of low-risk plant protection products in sustainable production. A review
- 2024
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Ingår i: Agronomy for Sustainable Development. - : Springer. - 1774-0746 .- 1773-0155. ; 44:2
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Plant production systems worldwide are struggling to meet the diverse and increasing needs of humankind while also facing challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss. This, combined with the desirable transition from the use of conventional pesticides to more sustainable plant protection solutions, has led to an urgent, and increasing, need for low-risk plant protection products (PPPs) to be developed, applied, and integrated into management practices across all types of plant production systems. Despite a high demand from end users and consumers together with joint political goals at the EU level to replace conventional pesticides, the number of low-risk PPPs on the European market remains low, in comparison to synthetic agrochemicals. In this review, we summarize knowledge about the policy, technical, and administrative issues hampering the process of bringing new low-risk PPPs to the European market. We present an overview of the challenges in using the low-risk PPPs that are currently available within the EU agricultural, horticultural, and forestry sectors. We describe the variation in modes of action and the limitations associated with different application techniques and give concrete examples of problems and solutions from Swedish plant production sectors, in contrast to global perspectives as demonstrated by examples from African agriculture. Finally, we conclude that trans-sectoral, multi-actor approaches are required and provide suggestions on how to address the remaining knowledge gaps related to efficiency, application, and economics of low-risk PPP use in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) solutions for plant protection to improve future food security in Europe.
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| 8. |
- Lehsten, Veiko, et al.
(författare)
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Earlier occurrence and increased explanatory power of climate for the first incidence of potato late blight caused by Phytophthora infestans in Fennoscandia
- 2017
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Ingår i: Plos One. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 12:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Late blight (caused by Phytophthora infestans) is a devastating potato disease that has been found to occur earlier in the season over the last decades in Fennoscandia. Up until now the reasons for this change have not been investigated. Possible explanations for this change are climate alterations, changes in potato production or changes in pathogen biology, such as increased fitness or changes in gene flow within P. infestans populations. The first incidence of late blight is of high economic importance since fungicidal applications should be typically applied two weeks before the first signs of late blight and are repeated on average once a week. We use field observations of first incidence of late blight in experimental potato fields from five sites in Sweden and Finland covering a total of 30 years and investigate whether the earlier incidence of late blight can be related to the climate. We linked the field data to meteorological data and found that the previous assumption, used in common late blight models, that the disease only develops at relative humidity levels above 90% had to be rejected. Rather than the typically assumed threshold relationship between late blight disease development and relative humidity we found a linear relationship. Our model furthermore showed two distinct responses of late blight to climate. At the beginning of the observation time (in Sweden until the early 90s and in Finland until the 2000s) the link between climate and first incidence was very weak. However, for the remainder of the time period the link was highly significant, indicating a change in the biological properties of the pathogen which could for example be a change in the dominating reproduction mode or a physiological change in the response of the pathogen to climate. The study shows that models used in decision support systems need to be checked and re parametrized regularly to be able to capture changes in pathogen biology. While this study was performed with data from Fennoscandia this new pathogen biology and late blight might spread to (or already be present at) other parts of the world as well. The strong link between climate and first incidence together with the presented model offers a tool to assess late blight incidence in future climates.
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| 9. |
- Ramesh, Vetukuri, et al.
(författare)
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Draft Genome Sequence for the Tree Pathogen Phytophthora plurivora
- 2018
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Ingår i: Genome Biology and Evolution. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1759-6653. ; 10:9, s. 2432-2442
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Species from the genus Phytophthora are well represented among organisms causing serious diseases on trees. Phytophthora plurivora has been implicated in long-term decline of woodland trees across Europe. Here we present a draft genome sequence of P. plurivora, originally isolated from diseased European beech (Fagus sylvatica) in Malmö, Sweden. When compared with other sequenced Phytophthora species, the P. plurivora genome assembly is relatively compact, spanning 41 Mb. This is organized in 1,919 contigs and 1,898 scaffolds, encompassing 11,741 predicted genes, and has a repeat content of approximately 15%. Comparison of allele frequencies revealed evidence for tetraploidy in the sequenced isolate. As in other sequenced Phytophthora species, P. plurivora possesses genes for pathogenicity-associated RXLR and Crinkle and Necrosis effectors, predominantly located in gene-sparse genomic regions. Comparison of the P. plurivora RXLR effectors with orthologs in other sequenced species in the same clade (Phytophthora multivora and Phytophthora capsici) revealed that the orthologs were likely to be under neutral or purifying selection.
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| 10. |
- Grenville-Briggs, Laura J., et al.
(författare)
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A family of small tyrosine rich proteins is essential for oogonial and oospore cell wall development of the mycoparasitic oomycete Pythium oligandrum
- 2013
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Ingår i: Fungal Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1878-6146 .- 1878-6162. ; 117:3, s. 163-172
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The mycoparasitic oomycete Pythium oligandrum is homothallic, producing an abundance of thick-walled spiny oospores in culture. After mining a cDNA sequence dataset, we identified a family of genes that code for small tyrosine rich (Pythium oligandrum small tyrosine rich (PoStr)) proteins. Sequence analysis identified similarity between the PoStr proteins and putative glycine-rich cell wall proteins from the related plant pathogenic oomycete Pythium ultimum, and mating-induced genes from the oomycete Phytophthora infestans. Expression analysis showed that PoStr transcripts accumulate during oospore production in culture and immunolocalisation indicates the presence of these proteins in oogonial and oospore cell walls. PoStr protein abundance correlated positively with production of oogonia as determined by antibiotic-mediated oogonia suppression. To further characterise the role of PoStr proteins in P. oligandrum oospore production, we silenced this gene family using homology-dependent gene silencing. This represents the first characterisation of genes using gene silencing in a Pythium species. Oospores from silenced strains displayed major ultrastructural changes and were sensitive to degradative enzyme treatment. Oogonia of silenced strains either appeared to be arrested at the mature oosphere stage of development or in around 40 % of the structures, showed a complete suppression of oospore formation. Suppressed oogonia were highly vacuolated and the oogonium wall was thickened by a new inner wall layer. Our data suggest PoStr proteins are probably integral structural components of the normal oospore cell wall and play a key role in oospore formation.
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| 11. |
- Grenville-Briggs, Laura J., et al.
(författare)
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Cellulose synthesis in Phytophthora infestans is required for normal appressorium formation and successful infection of potato
- 2008
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Ingår i: The Plant Cell. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1040-4651 .- 1532-298X. ; 20:3, s. 720-738
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cellulose, the important structural compound of cell walls, provides strength and rigidity to cells of numerous organisms. Here, we functionally characterize four cellulose synthase genes (CesA) in the oomycete plant pathogen Phytophthora infestans, the causal agent of potato (Solanum tuberosum) late blight. Three members of this new protein family contain Pleckstrin homology domains and form a distinct phylogenetic group most closely related to the cellulose synthases of cyanobacteria. Expression of all four genes is coordinately upregulated during pre- and early infection stages of potato. Inhibition of cellulose synthesis by 2,6-dichlorobenzonitrile leads to a dramatic reduction in the number of normal germ tubes with appressoria, severe disruption of the cell wall in the preinfection structures, and a complete loss of pathogenicity. Silencing of the entire gene family in P. infestans with RNA interference leads to a similar disruption of the cell wall surrounding appressoria and an inability to form typical functional appressoria. In addition, the cellulose content of the cell walls of the silenced lines is >50% lower than in the walls of the nonsilenced lines. Our data demonstrate that the isolated genes are involved in cellulose biosynthesis and that cellulose synthesis is essential for infection by P. infestans.
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| 12. |
- Andersen, Christian B., et al.
(författare)
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Pythium oligandrum induces growth promotion in starch potato without significantly altering the rhizosphere microbiome
- 2024
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Ingår i: Applied Soil Ecology. - 0929-1393. ; 199
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Plant health promoting organisms, including microbial biological control agents, are of increasing importance for the development of more sustainable agriculture. To understand the function of these microbes as biological control agents under field conditions and their overall impact on soil and plant health, we need to learn more about the impact of plant beneficial microbes on the rhizosphere microbiome of crops such as potato. The plant beneficial oomycete Pythium oligandrum has previously been reported both as a biocontrol agent and as a plant growth promoter, or biostimulant, in several crop species. To investigate the potential of P. oligandrum as a biostimulant in potato, we performed a series of controlled-environment bioassays in three cultivars. We showed that biostimulation of potato by P. oligandrum is plant genotype-specific. We confirmed the biostimulation by P. oligandrum in the starch potato cultivar Kuras under field conditions. We further investigated the effects of P. oligandrum on the potato rhizosphere microbiome, sampling individual potato plants at three time points over the growing season (representing the vegetative growth phase, flowering, and the onset of senescence). Metabarcoding using ITS and 16S amplicon sequencing revealed no significant overall effect of P. oligandrum application on the bacterial and fungal rhizosphere communities. However, some genera were significantly differentially abundant after P. oligandrum application, including some classified as plant-beneficial microbes. We conclude that P. oligandrum has a cultivar-dependent growth-promoting effect in potato and only minor effects on the rhizosphere microbiome.
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| 13. |
- Grenville-Briggs, Laura J., et al.
(författare)
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A Molecular Insight into Algal-Oomycete Warfare : cDNAAnalysis of Ectocarpus siliculosus Infected with the BasalOomycete Eurychasma dicksonii
- 2011
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE. - 1932-6203. ; 6:9, s. e24500-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Brown algae are the predominant primary producers in coastal habitats, and like land plants are subject to disease and parasitism. Eurychasma dicksonii is an abundant, and probably cosmopolitan, obligate biotrophic oomycete pathogen of marine brown algae. Oomycetes (or water moulds) are pathogenic or saprophytic non-photosynthetic Stramenopiles, mostly known for causing devastating agricultural and aquacultural diseases. Whilst molecular knowledge is restricted to crop pathogens, pathogenic oomycetes actually infect hosts from most eukaryotic lineages. Molecular evidence indicates that Eu. dicksonii belongs to the most early-branching oomycete clade known so far. Therefore Eu. dicksonii is of considerable interest due to its presumed environmental impact and phylogenetic position. Here we report the first large scale functional molecular data acquired on the most basal oomycete to date. 9873 unigenes, totalling over 3.5Mb of sequence data, were produced from Sanger-sequenced and pyrosequenced EST libraries of infected Ectocarpus siliculosus. 6787 unigenes (70%) were of algal origin, and 3086 (30%) oomycete origin. 57% of Eu. dicksonii sequences had no similarity to published sequence data, indicating that this dataset is largely unique. We were unable to positively identify sequences belonging to the RXLR and CRN groups of oomycete effectors identified in higher oomycetes, however we uncovered other unique pathogenicity factors. These included putative algal cell wall degrading enzymes, cell surface proteins, and cyclophilin-like proteins. A first look at the host response to infection has also revealed movement of the host nucleus to the site of infection as well as expression of genes responsible for strengthening the cell wall, and secretion of proteins such as protease inhibitors. We also found evidence of transcriptional reprogramming of E. siliculosus transposable elements and of a viral gene inserted in the host genome.
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| 14. |
- Grenville-Briggs, Laura J., et al.
(författare)
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Self-directed student research through analysis of microarray datasets: a computer-based functional genomics practical class for Masters-level students
- 2011
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Ingår i: Biochemistry and molecular biology education. - : Wiley. - 1470-8175 .- 1539-3429. ; 39:6, s. 440-447
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This report describes a linked series of Masters-level computer practical workshops. They comprise an advanced functional genomics investigation, based upon analysis of a microarray dataset probing yeast DNA damage responses. The workshops require the students to analyse highly complex transcriptomics datasets, and were designed to stimulate active learning through experience of current research methods in bioinformatics and functional genomics. They seek to closely mimic a realistic research environment, and require the students first to propose research hypotheses, then test those hypotheses using specific sections of the microarray dataset. The complexity of the microarray data provides students with the freedom to propose their own unique hypotheses, tested using appropriate sections of the microarray data. This research latitude was highly regarded by students and is a strength of this practical. In addition, the focus on DNA damage by radiation and mutagenic chemicals allows them to place their results in a human medical context, and successfully sparks broad interest in the subject material. In evaluation, 79% of students scored the practical workshops on a five-point scale as 4 or 5 (totally effective) for student learning. More broadly, the general use of microarray data as a student research playground is also discussed.
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| 15. |
- Stridh, L. J., et al.
(författare)
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Reduced efficacy of biocontrol agents and plant resistance inducers against potato early blight from greenhouse to field
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1861-3829 .- 1861-3837. ; 129:4, s. 923-938
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Early blight in potato, caused by Alternaria solani, is mainly controlled by frequent applications of synthetic fungicides. Reducing the use of synthetic fungicides in agriculture is desired to reach an overall sustainable development since the active components can be harmful for humans and for the ecosystem. In integrated pest management, IPM, the idea is to combine various measures, including optimized crop management, crop rotation, use of resistant cultivars, biological control agents (BCAs), plant resistance inducers, and fertilizers, to decrease the dependence on traditional chemical fungicides. In this paper, we present the results from greenhouse and field trials where we evaluated the effect of strategies aimed at reducing our reliance on synthetic fungicides including treatments with biological control agents (BCAs) (Pythium oligandrum, Polygandron®, and Bacillus subtilis, Serenade®) and plant resistance inducers (silicon products HortiStar® and Actisil®) for early blight in potato. The agents were applied separately or in combination with each other or with synthetic fungicides. In the greenhouse, trials application of these agents resulted in 50–95% reduction of infection by A. solani, but their combination did not generally improve the outcome. However, the effects were much smaller in the hand-sprayed field trials, 20–25% disease reduction and almost disappeared in full-scale field trials where application was done with tractor sprayers. In this article, we discuss possible reasons behind the drop in efficacy from greenhouse trials to full-size field evaluation.
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| 16. |
- Vetukuri, Ramesh R., et al.
(författare)
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Evidence for involvement of Dicer-like, Argonaute, and Histone Deacetylase proteins in gene silencing in Phytophthora infestans
- 2011
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Ingår i: Molecular plant pathology. - : Wiley. - 1464-6722 .- 1364-3703. ; 12:8, s. 772-785
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Gene silencing may have a direct or indirect impact on many biological processes in eukaryotic cells, and is a useful tool for the determination of the roles of specific genes. In this article, we report silencing in Phytophthora infestans, an oomycete pathogen of potato and tomato. Gene silencing is known to occur in P. infestans, but its genetic basis has yet to be determined. Genes encoding the major components of the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway, Dicer-like (Pidcl1), Argonaute (Piago1-5) and RNA-directed RNA polymerase (Pirdr1), were identified in the P. infestans genome by comparative genomics, together with families of other genes potentially involved in gene silencing, such as histone deacetylases, histone methyltransferases, DEAD heli-cases, chromodomain proteins and a class 1 RNaseIII. Real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction demonstrated transcript accumulation for all candidate genes throughout the asexual lifecycle and plant infection, but at different levels of mRNA abundance. A functional assay was developed in which silencing of the sporulation-associated Picdc14 gene was released by the treatment of protoplasts with in vitro-synthesized double-stranded RNAs homologous to Pidcl1, Piago1/2 and histone deacetylase Pihda1. These results suggest that the components of gene silencing, namely Dicer-like, Argonaute and histone deacetylase, are functional in P. infestans. Our data demonstrate that this oomycete possesses canonical gene silencing pathways similar to those of other eukaryotes.
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