Plant pathogens employ effector proteins to manipulate their hosts. Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (Fol), the causal agent of tomato wilt disease, produces effector protein Avr2. Besides being a virulence factor, Avr2 triggers immunity in I-2 carrying tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). Fol strains that evade I-2 recognition carry point mutations in Avr2 (e.g. Avr2R45H ), but retain full viru...

Transposable elements (TEs) shape genomes via recombination and transposition, lead to chromosomal rearrangements, create new gene neighborhoods, and alter gene expression. They play key roles in adaptation either to symbiosis in Amanita genus or to pathogenicity in Pyrenophora tritici-repentis. Despite growing evidence of their importance, the abundance and distribution of mobile elements repl...

Our project is to measure differential responses of various alien cytoplasms in a specific nuclear background to various pathogens to provide a better understanding on the effect of nuclear-cytoplasmic interactions on biotic stress tolerance. In this study, we analyzed the nuclear donors of 56-1 (tetraploid), and Chris and Selkirk (both hexaploid), alloplasmic lines. Fifty selected alloplasmic ...

PCR primers for diagnosis of Rhynchosporium secalis in seed samples of barley were developed. For the quantification of the pathogen in seed samples a real-time PCR with SYBR Green approach was used. Amounts from 1.8 to 419.1 pg of R. secalis DNA per 100 ng of total DNA were detected in 18 samples of barley seeds contaminated by R. secalis in field conditions. The correctness of this quantitati...

Pyrenophora tritici-repentis, the cause of tan spot of wheat was first recorded in New Zealand in 1979, but only on wheat seed. However, this pathogen has recently been recorded as causing possible yield losses in isolated crops. A small plot trial set up in a central Canterbury crop of cv. Saracen tested several fungicides alone or in mixtures. Control was not entirely effective since tan spot...