Oomycetes

Microbial Partnerships of Pathogenic Oomycetes

Oomycetes are filamentous eukaryotic microorganisms among which several species are plant and animal pathogens [1,2]. Those that cause plant diseases have had great impacts on human activities such as (i) the 19th century Irish famine triggered by the potato late blight (Phytophthora infestans), (ii) the associated massive North American immigration [3], and (iii) the formulation of the Bordeau...

Molecular genetics of pathogenic oomycetes.

Cellulose Biosynthesis in Oomycetes

Oomycetes have long been considered as a separate class within the kingdom Fungi, but they are in fact closer to brown algae. They are currently classified in the Stramenopile eukaryotic kingdom, which includes heterokont algae and water molds. The major cell wall polysaccharides in Oomycetes are β-(1 3) and β-(1 6)-glucans, as well as cellulose, which has never been reported in any fungal spec...

Calcium Signaling in Oomycetes: An Evolutionary Perspective

Oomycetes are a family of eukaryotic microbes that superficially resemble fungi, but which are phylogenetically distinct from them. These organisms cause major global economic losses to agriculture and fisheries, with representative pathogens being Phytophthora infestans, the cause of late potato blight and Saprolegnia diclina, the instigator of "cotton molds" in fish. As in all eukaryotes, cyt...

Oomycetes, effectors, and all that jazz.

Plant pathogenic oomycetes secrete a diverse repertoire of effector proteins that modulate host innate immunity and enable parasitic infection. Understanding how effectors evolve, translocate and traffic inside host cells, and perturb host processes are major themes in the study of oomycete-plant interactions. The last year has seen important progress in the study of oomycete effectors with, no...