Positively Selected Effector Genes and Their Contribution to Virulence in the Smut Fungus Sporisorium reilianum.

ABSTRACT: Plants and fungi display a broad range of interactions in natural and agricultural ecosystems ranging from symbiosis to parasitism. These ecological interactions result in coevolution between genes belonging to different partners. A well-understood example is secreted fungal effector proteins and their host targets, which play an important role in pathogenic interactions. Biotrophic smut fungi (Basidiomycota) are well-suited to investigate the evolution of plant pathogens, because several reference genomes and genetic tools are available for these species. Here, we used the genomes of Sporisorium reilianum f. sp. zeae and S. reilianum f. sp. reilianum, two closely related formae speciales infecting maize and sorghum, respectively, together with the genomes of Ustilago hordei, Ustilago mayd

SUBMITTER: Schweizer G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5811872 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature