Abstract:
Plants are constantly challenged by various environmental stressors ranging from
abiotic—sunlight, elevated temperatures, drought, and nutrient deficits, to biotic factors—microbial
pathogens and insect pests. These not only a ect the quality of harvest but also the yield, leading to
substantial annual crop losses, worldwide. Although plants have a multi-layered immune system,
phytopathogens such as species of the oomycete genus Phytophthora, can employ elaborate mechanisms
to breach this defense. For the last two decades, researchers have focused on the co-evolution between
Phytophthora and interacting hosts to decouple the mechanisms governing their molecular associations.
This has provided a comprehensive understanding of the pathobiology of plants a ected by oomycetes.
Ultimately, this is important for the development of strategies to sustainably improve agricultural
production. Therefore, this paper discusses the present-day state of knowledge of the strategic mode
of operation employed by species of Phytophthora for successful infection. Specifically, we consider
motility, attachment, and host cell wall degradation used by these pathogenic species to obtain
nutrients from their host. Also discussed is an array of e ector types from apoplastic (hydrolytic
proteins, protease inhibitors, elicitins) to cytoplastic (RxLRs, named after Arginine-any amino
acid-Leucine-Arginine consensus sequence and CRNs, for CRinkling and Necrosis), which upon
liberation can subvert the immune response and promote diseases in plants.
