One of the reasons for the progressive yield decline observed in cereals production is the rapid build-up of populations of the cereal cyst nematode (CCN, Heterodera avenae). These nematodes secrete so-call effectors into their host plant to suppress the plant defense responses, alter plant signaling pathways and then induce the formation of syncytium after infection. However, little is known a...

Pathogen infection triggers complex molecular perturbations within host cells that results in either resistance or susceptibility. Protein acetylation is an emerging biochemical modification that appears to play central roles during host-pathogen interactions. To date, research in this area has focused on two main themes linking protein acetylation to plant immune signaling. Firstly, it has bee...

Bacteria that infect the plant vascular system are among the most destructive kind of plant pathogens because pathogen proliferation in the vascular system will sooner or later shut down the plant's water and nutrient supply and necessarily lead to wilting and, in the worst case, death of the entire plant. How bacterial plant pathogens adapted to life in the plant vascular system is still poorl...

Salmonella virulence in animals depends on effectors injected by Type III Secretion Systems (T3SSs). In this report we demonstrate that Salmonella mutants that are unable to deliver effectors are also compromised in infection of Arabidopsis thaliana plants. Transcriptome analysis revealed that in contrast to wild type bacteria, T3SS mutants of Salmonella are compromised in suppressing highly co...

Plant cell walls provide physical strength, regulate the passage of bio-molecules, and act as the first barrier of defense against biotic and abiotic stress. In addition to providing structural integrity, plant cell walls serve an important function in connecting cells to their extracellular environment by sensing and transducing signals to activate cellular responses, such as those that occur ...

Drosophila, Wnt, FGF, Jak/Stat, Rho, Rac, RhoGEF, Pebble, Naked Cuticle The site for the latest installment of the Fly Meeting (March 7–11) was downtown Philadelphia. The conference offered an illustration of all that is great about the Drosophila field bringing together evolutionary biologists, immunologists and everyone in between. Here I will provide a small sample of several advances from t...

We show that the oscillatory driving of crystal surfaces can induce pattern formation or smoothening. Depending on driving conditions, step bunching and meandering, mound formation, or surface smoothening may be seen in the presence of a kinetic asymmetry at the steps or kinks. We employ a step model to calculate the induced mass flux along misoriented surfaces, which accounts for surface dynam...

The penetration of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi through the outermost root tissues of the host plant is a critical step in root colonization, ultimately leading to the establishment of this ecologically important endosymbiotic association. To evaluate the role played by the host plant during AM infection, we have studied in vivo cellular dynamics within Medicago truncatula root epidermal c...

Immune responses and DNA damage repair are two fundamental processes that have been characterized extensively, but the links between them remain largely unknown. We report that multiple bacterial, fungal and oomycete plant pathogen species induce double-strand breaks (DSBs) in host plant DNA. DNA damage detected by histone γ-H2AX abundance or DNA comet assays arose hours before the disease-asso...

Fungal interactions with plants can involve specific morphogenetic developments to access host cells, the suppression of plant defenses, and the establishment of a feeding lifestyle that nourishes the colonizer often-but not always-at the expense of the host. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) metabolism is central to the infection process, and the stage-specific production and/or neutralization of ...