We examine exon junctions near apparent amino acid insertions and deletions in alignments of orthologous protein-coding genes. In 1,917 ortholog families across nine oomycete genomes, 10-20% of introns are near an alignment gap, indicating at first sight that splice-site displacements are frequent. We designed a robust algorithmic procedure for the delineation of intron-containing homologous re...

Members of the oomycete genus Phytophthora are the most devastating pathogens of dicot plants. Recent developments in the study of these organisms have led to improved understanding of their phylogenetic relationships and trends in their evolution. Molecular analyses of nonhost (species-level) resistance offer exciting prospects for disease management. A model that evokes a complex interplay of...

Martelella endophytica YC6887, which produces antifungal compounds against fungal and oomycete pathogens, was isolated from the root of a halophyte, Rosa rugosa, collected at a tidal flat in South Korea. Its full-genome sequence shows that it is a circular DNA, without a plasmid, of about 4.8 Mb in size.

The oomycete Pythium oligandrum is a mycoparasite and licenced biological control agent. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of P. oligandrum strain CBS 530.74, which is 36.80 Mb. It contains 341 scaffolds and 11,647 predicted protein-coding genes. As reported for plant-pathogenic Pythium species, RXLR-type effector sequences are absent.

Pilasporangium apinafurcum, formerly classified as Pythium apinafurcum, is a unique oomycete that infects plants asymptomatically. Here, we present the draft genome sequences of two variants of P. apinafurcum, JCM 30513 and JCM 30514, isolated from uncultivated field soil in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan.

To date, nuclear localization signals (NLSs) that target proteins to nuclei in oomycetes have not been defined, but have been assumed to be the same as in higher eukaryotes. Here, we use the soybean pathogen Phytophthora sojae as a model to investigate these sequences in oomycetes. By establishing a reliable in vivo NLS assay based on confocal microscopy, we found that many canonical monopartit...

Several filamentous oomycete species of the genus Halophytophthora have recently been described from marine environments, mostly from subtropical and tropical ecosystems. During a survey of oomycetes from leaf litter of Spartina alterniflora in salt marshes of southeastern Georgia, isolates of four taxa were recovered that bore similarity to some members of Halophytophthora but were highly dive...

Fungi and oomycetes are the causal agents of many of the world’s most serious plant diseases and are unique among the microbial pathogens in being able to breach the intact surfaces of host plants, rapidly establishing infections that can have disastrous consequences for large-scale agricultural production. The ability to cause plant disease is not a common trait among the many saprotrophic and...

Gene regulation by small RNA pathways is ubiquitous among eukaryotes, but little is known about small RNA pathways in the Stramenopile kingdom. Phytophthora, a genus of filamentous oomycetes, contains many devastating plant pathogens, causing multibillion-dollar damage to crops, ornamental plants, and natural environments. The genomes of several oomycetes including Phytophthora species such as ...