New developments in pathogenicity and virulence of necrotrophs

Abstract

It was generally considered that necrotrophic plant pathogenicfungi possessed simplistic pathogenic mechanisms beingtypically reliant on ‘blasting’ their way through host tissue with abattery of lytic and degradative enzymes. However recentstudies have suggested that this is not true and thatnecrotrophic fungal pathogens can subtly manipulate the hostduring infection in a manner similar to biotrophic pathogens.For example, it has been demonstrated that the wheatpathogens Stagonospora nodorum and Pyrenophora triticirepentissecrete small unique proteins (effectors) that areinternalised by host cells and interact with the host in a genefor-gene relationship to initiate disease, albeit in an inversemanner compared to biotrophs. This paper reviews recentdevelopments in necrotrophic fungal pathogenicity throughout