Unraveling Plant Cell Death during Infection.

Oomycetes form a distinct phylogenetic lineage of fungus-like eukaryotic microorganisms, of which several hundred organisms are considered among the most devastating plant pathogens-especially members of the genus . spp. have a large repertoire of effectors that aid in eliciting a susceptible response in host plants. What is of increasing interest is the involvement of effectors in regulating programed cell death (PCD)-in particular, the hypersensitive response. There have been numerous functional characterization studies, which demonstrate effectors either inducing or suppressing host cell death, which may play a crucial role in ability to regulate their hemi-biotrophic lifestyle. Despite several advances in techniques used to identify and characterize effectors, knowledge is still lacking for some important species, including . This review discusses what the term PCD means and the gap in knowledge between pathogenic and developmental forms of PCD in plants. We also discuss the role cell death plays in the virulence of spp. and the effectors that have so far been identified as playing a role in cell death manipulation. Finally, we touch on the different techniques available to study effector functions, such as cell death induction/suppression.