Abstract
Why Biotrophs Can't Live Alone
Highlights
At first glance, diatoms, malaria parasites, and fungus-like plant pathogens called oomycetes look wildly different
The evolution and molecular mechanisms of this lifestyle are poorly understood. In this issue of PLoS Biology, Kemen, Jones, and colleagues confirm that obligate biotrophy entails pathway loss in oomycetes, and report a new class of molecules that suppress host plant defenses
The researchers sequenced the genome of the white rust A. laibachii that, like the downy mildew H. arabidopsidis, is an obligate biotroph and parasitizes A. thaliana
Summary
Diatoms, malaria parasites, and fungus-like plant pathogens called oomycetes look wildly different. Oomycetes include both necrotrophs, which feed on dead plant tissue, and obligate biotrophs, which require living hosts. Biotrophy evolved independently in two groups of oomycetes in the same lineage, the white rusts such as Albugo laibachii and the downy mildews such as the Irish potato famine pathogen Phytophthora infestans and Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis, which infects the plant Arabidopsis thaliana.
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