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Article
Near- to long-term measures to stabilize global wheat supplies and food security
The Ukraine–Russia war will impact global food security over months if not years. In the wake of COVID-19 and in the face of increasing climate change, we propose responses to a multi-layered global food crisi...
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Article
A complex resistance locus in Solanum americanum recognizes a conserved Phytophthora effector
Late blight caused by Phytophthora infestans greatly constrains potato production. Many Resistance (R) genes were cloned from wild Solanum species and/or introduced into potato cultivars by breeding. However, ind...
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Article
Open AccessDifferential loss of effector genes in three recently expanded pandemic clonal lineages of the rice blast fungus
Understanding the mechanisms and timescales of plant pathogen outbreaks requires a detailed genome-scale analysis of their population history. The fungus Magnaporthe (Syn. Pyricularia) oryzae—the causal agent of ...
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Article
A resistosome-activated ‘death switch’
Pathogen perception triggers a monomeric nucleotide-binding leucine-rich plant immune receptor to form a pentameric wheel-like complex termed a resistosome, with the N-terminal α helices forming a funnel-shape...
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Article
Old fungus, new trick
A secreted effector from the plant pathogenic fungus Ustilago maydis has evolved to acquire a new function that contributes to the unique lifestyle of this species, highlighting the utility of using comparative g...
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Article
Open AccessPhytophthora methylomes are modulated by 6mA methyltransferases and associated with adaptive genome regions
Filamentous plant pathogen genomes often display a bipartite architecture with gene-sparse, repeat-rich compartments serving as a cradle for adaptive evolution. The extent to which this two-speed genome archit...
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Article
Publisher Correction: Polymorphic residues in rice NLRs expand binding and response to effectors of the blast pathogen
In the version of this Article originally published, in Fig. 1b the single-letter code for the amino acid polymorphism at position 46 in the schematic of the AVR-PikE variant was incorrectly given as ‘H’. The ...
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Article
Polymorphic residues in rice NLRs expand binding and response to effectors of the blast pathogen
Accelerated adaptive evolution is a hallmark of plant–pathogen interactions. Plant intracellular immune receptors (NLRs) often occur as allelic series with differential pathogen specificities. The determinants...
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Article
Open AccessGene expression polymorphism underpins evasion of host immunity in an asexual lineage of the Irish potato famine pathogen
Outbreaks caused by asexual lineages of fungal and oomycete pathogens are a continuing threat to crops, wild animals and natural ecosystems (Fisher MC, Henk DA, Briggs CJ, Brownstein JS, Madoff LC, McCraw SL, ...
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Article
Open AccessnQuire: a statistical framework for ploidy estimation using next generation sequencing
Intraspecific variation in ploidy occurs in a wide range of species including pathogenic and nonpathogenic eukaryotes such as yeasts and oomycetes. Ploidy can be inferred indirectly - without measuring DNA con...
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Article
Open AccessStranger in a strange land: the experiences of immigrant researchers
Continuing with our Q&A series discussing issues of diversity in STEM fields, Genome Biology spoke with three researchers on their experiences as immigrants.
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Article
Open AccessGenome analysis of the foxtail millet pathogen Sclerospora graminicola reveals the complex effector repertoire of graminicolous downy mildews
Downy mildew, caused by the oomycete pathogen Sclerospora graminicola, is an economically important disease of Gramineae crops including foxtail millet (Setaria italica). Plants infected with S. graminicola are g...
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Article
Open AccessGenome sequencing of the staple food crop white Guinea yam enables the development of a molecular marker for sex determination
Root and tuber crops are a major food source in tropical Africa. Among these crops are several species in the monocotyledonous genus Dioscorea collectively known as yam, a staple tuber crop that contributes enorm...
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Article
Open AccessCan a biologist fix a smartphone?—Just hack it!
Biological systems integrate multiscale processes and networks and are, therefore, viewed as difficult to dissect. However, because of the clear-cut separation between the software code (the information encode...
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Article
Open AccessRapid generation of a transgene-free powdery mildew resistant tomato by genome deletion
Genome editing has emerged as a technology with a potential to revolutionize plant breeding. In this study, we report on generating, in less than ten months, Tomelo, a non-transgenic tomato variety resistant t...
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Article
Open AccessAlbugo-imposed changes to tryptophan-derived antimicrobial metabolite biosynthesis may contribute to suppression of non-host resistance to Phytophthora infestans in Arabidopsis thaliana
Plants are exposed to diverse pathogens and pests, yet most plants are resistant to most plant pathogens. Non-host resistance describes the ability of all members of a plant species to successfully prevent col...
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Protein–Protein Interaction Assays with Effector–GFP Fusions in Nicotiana benthamiana
Plant parasites secrete proteins known as effectors into host tissues to manipulate host cell structures and functions. One of the major goals in effector biology is to determine the host cell compartments and...
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Article
Open AccessEditing of the urease gene by CRISPR-Cas in the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana
CRISPR-Cas is a recent and powerful addition to the molecular toolbox which allows programmable genome editing. It has been used to modify genes in a wide variety of organisms, but only two alga to date. Here ...
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Article
Open AccessEmergence of wheat blast in Bangladesh was caused by a South American lineage of Magnaporthe oryzae
In February 2016, a new fungal disease was spotted in wheat fields across eight districts in Bangladesh. The epidemic spread to an estimated 15,000 hectares, about 16 % of the cultivated wheat area in Banglade...
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Article
Fungal pathogenesis: Host modulation every which way
The plant pathogenic fungus Fusarium oxysporum secretes an effector that is similar to a plant peptide hormone, underscoring the variety of mechanisms that plant pathogens have evolved to tamper with host physiol...
