A dimeric PR-1-type pathogenesis-related protein (PR-1-5), recently identified in wheat, was found to interact with Stagonospora nodorum ToxA in both yeast two-hybrid and co-immunoprecipitation assays. Site-specific mutational analyses revealed that the RGD motif of ToxA is not targeted by PR-1-5, whereas two surface-exposed asparagine residues are essential for the interaction: the N102 residu...

The necrotrophic fungal pathogen Pyrenophora tritici-repentis causes tan spot, a major disease of wheat, throughout the world. The proteinaceous effector ToxA is responsible for foliar necrosis on ToxA-sensitive wheat genotypes. The single copy ToxA gene was deleted from a wild-type race 1 P. tritici-repentis isolate via homologous recombination of a knockout construct. Expression of the ToxA t...

The plant pathogenic fungus Pyrenophora tritici-repentis secretes host-selective toxins (HSTs) that function as pathogenicity factors. Unlike most HSTs that are products of enzymatic pathways, at least two toxins produced by P. tritici-repentis are proteins and, thus, products of single genes. Sensitivity to these toxins in the host is conferred by a single gene for each toxin. To study the sit...

Tan spot (TS), caused by the fungus Pyrenophora tritici-repentis (Died) Drechs, is an important foliar disease of wheat and has become a threat to world wheat production since the 1970s. In this study a globally diverse pre-1940s collection of 247 wheat genotypes was evaluated against Ptr ToxA, P. tritici-repentis race 1, and stem rust to determine if; (i) acquisition of Ptr ToxA by the P. trit...

To obtain greater insight into the molecular events underlying plant disease susceptibility, we studied transcriptome changes induced by a host-selective toxin of Pyrenophora tritici-repentis, Ptr ToxA (ToxA), on its host plant, wheat. Transcriptional profiling of ToxA-treated leaves of a ToxA-sensitive wheat cultivar was performed using the GeneChip Wheat Genome Array. An improved and up-to-da...

Plant disease resistance is often conferred by genes with nucleotide binding site (NBS) and leucine-rich repeat (LRR) or serine/threonine protein kinase (S/TPK) domains. Much less is known about mechanisms of susceptibility, particularly to necrotrophic fungal pathogens. The pathogens that cause the diseases tan spot and Stagonospora nodorum blotch on wheat produce effectors (host-selective tox...

Race 1 isolates of Cochliobolus carbonum are pathogenic on certain maize lines due to production of a host-selective cyclic tetrapeptide, HC-toxin. Flanking HTS1, which encodes the central enzyme in HC-toxin biosynthesis, a gene was identified and named TOXA. Like HTS1, TOXA occurred only in isolates of the fungus that make HC-toxin and was present as two linked copies in most toxin-producing i...

Pyrenophora tritici-repentis, the causal agent of tan spot disease of wheat, mediates disease by the production of host-selective toxins (HST). The known toxins are recognized in an 'inverse' gene-for-gene manner, where each is perceived by the product of a unique locus in the host and recognition leads to disease susceptibility. Given the importance of HSTs in disease development, we would pre...

The wheat Tsn1 gene on chromosome 5B confers sensitivity to a host-selective toxin produced by the pathogens that cause tan spot and Stagonospora nodorum blotch (SNB) known as Ptr ToxA and SnToxA, respectively (hereafter referred to as ToxA). A compatible Tsn1-ToxA interaction is known to play a major role in conferring susceptibility of hexaploid (common) wheat to SNB. However, a recent study ...

Tan spot of wheat (Triticum aestivum), caused by the fungus Pyrenophora tritici-repentis, has significant agricultural and economic impact. Ptr ToxA (ToxA), the first discovered proteinaceous host-selective toxin, is produced by certain P. tritici-repentis races and is necessary and sufficient to cause cell death in sensitive wheat cultivars. We present here the high-resolution crystal structur...