AUTHOR=Lorrain Cécile , Hecker Arnaud , Duplessis Sébastien 

TITLE=Effector-Mining in the Poplar Rust Fungus Melampsora larici-populina Secretome

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=6

YEAR=2015

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2015.01051

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2015.01051

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>The poplar leaf rust fungus, <italic>Melampsora larici-populina</italic> has been established as a tree-microbe interaction model. Understanding the molecular mechanisms controlling infection by pathogens appears essential for durable management of tree plantations. In biotrophic plant-parasites, effectors are known to condition host cell colonization. Thus, investigation of candidate secreted effector proteins (CSEPs) is a major goal in the poplar–poplar rust interaction. Unlike oomycetes, fungal effectors do not share conserved motifs and candidate prediction relies on a set of <italic>a priori</italic> criteria established from reported <italic>bona fide</italic> effectors. Secretome prediction, genome-wide analysis of gene families and transcriptomics of <italic>M. larici-populina</italic> have led to catalogs of more than a thousand secreted proteins. Automatized effector-mining pipelines hold great promise for rapid and systematic identification and prioritization of CSEPs for functional characterization. In this review, we report on and discuss the current status of the poplar rust fungus secretome and prediction of candidate effectors from this species.</p>