Fifty years of oomycetes—from consolidation to evolutionary and genomic exploration

Abstract

Transformative changes in biological sciences during the past 25 years have led to many significant advances in oomycete research. Before the last half century there were some hints that the oomycetes were related to some algae but it is now definitively demonstrated that they do not share an evolutionary path with kingdom Eumycota and are instead placed in a new kingdom Straminipila. Clarifying this once and for all has created many opportunities, but the rapid expansion of the research community has caused some fragmentation, probably much more so than in other groups of fungi because of a lack of a unifying forum for the members of the community working on issues such as taxonomy or phylogeny. Prior to the advent of molecular phylogenetics, mycologists working in zoosporic fungi were examining the ultrastructure of the zoospore, mainly focussing on the flagellar apparatus, and managed to generate phylogenies or define clades of zoospore producing fungi that remained for the most part valid after the advances in molecular biology. Comprehensive molecular phylogenies that have been published for some genera of the oomycetes have helped in recognising a large number of new species and in the development of a wide range of DNA-based diagnostic tools. The number of genomes available for this group is increasing rapidly, pushing further the discoveries of novel host-parasite interaction mechanisms in oomycetes. Some important plant diseases that were believed to be under control have re-emerged and many new diseases have appeared particularly in forestry and even in mammals. The research community has been able to respond rapidly and effectively to these new challenges. New ecological roles for the oomycetes were found in the suppression of plant diseases and reduction of plant invasineness in natural ecosystems. There are still many challenges ahead in the oomycete community, probably the most pressing one is to establish a robust tree of life foundation like the Assembling the Fungal Tree of Life initiative. The oomycete research community is dynamic and has put to very good use the many new technological advances.