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Title: HOST-SELECTIVE TOXINS: WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Author
item WOLPERT, THOMAS - OREGON STATE UNVERSITY
item DUNKLE, LARRY
item CIAFFETTI, LYNDA - OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: Annual Review of Phytopathology
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/24/2002
Publication Date: 8/8/2002
Citation: WOLPERT, T.J., DUNKLE, L.D., CIAFFETTI, L.M. HOST-SELECTIVE TOXINS: WHAT'S IN A NAME?. ANNUAL REVIEW OF PHYTOPATHOLOGY. 2002.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Host-selective toxins, a group of structurally complex and chemically diverse metabolites produced only by plant pathogenic strains of certain fungal species, function as essential determinants of pathogenicity or virulence. Recent investigations into the molecular and biochemical responses to these disease determinants reveal defense responses typically associated with host incompatibility induced by avirulence determinants. Among the characteristic responses that unify these disparate disease phenotypes are programmed cell death and mitochondrial dysfunction, yet the evidence confirming a casual relationship of those responses, whether induced by host-selective toxins or avirulence factors, in determining the consequences of the host-pathogen interaction is equivocal. This review summarizes some examples of the action of HST to illustrate the similarity in responses with those to avirulence determinants.