Plant Pathogen Evades Immune System by Targeting the Microbiome
Published:05 Dec.2021 Source:University of Cologne
A team of biologists has identified that the pathogenic fungus Verticillium dahliae, responsible for wilt disease in many crops, secretes an 'effector' molecule to target the microbiome of plants to promote infection.
The research was performed by the team of Alexander von Humboldt Professor Dr Bart Thomma at the University of Cologne (UoC) within the framework of the Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS) in collaboration with the team of Dr Michael Seidl at the Theoretical Biology & Bioinformatics group of Utrecht University in the Netherlands. The study 'An ancient antimicrobial protein co-opted by a fungal plant pathogen for in planta mycobiome manipulation' has appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).