• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.79-83
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• 2003

Elicitins, proteinaceous elicitors secreted from Oomycetes fungi (Phytophthora spp. and Pythium spp.), have been known as inducer of hypersensitive response (HR) in incompatible interactions between plant and pathogens. Five elicitins among many Korean Phytophthora species caused the reactions of distal HR in radish, chinese cabbage and some hot pepper cultivars, but not in cucumber and tomato. Because the isolation of elicitin from Phytophthora cambivora hasn't been reported yet, we have purified a cambivorein, a new member of the elicitin family, from the culture filtrate of Phytophtilora cambivora (KACC 40160) by using FPLC (Fast Protein Liquid Chromatography, AKTA) with sepharose S and Sephacryl HR columns. We confirmed that it induces necrosis activities in some hot pepper cultivars and its molecular weight is about 10 KDa by Tricine-SDS-PAGE. Comparison of amino acid sequences of its N-terminal ends also informed the identification of Iysine at the 13th position, which is characteristic of a kind of basic elicitin isoform $({\beta}-isoform)$. It Also showed that our elicitin is not identical with N-terminal sequences of many elicitins reported from Phytophthora spp..

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.55-59
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• 2007

The study was carried out to develop transformants resisting to Phyophthora blight disease in the domestic pepper cultivar Subicho. In transforming of syn600 promoter with elicitin gene using Agrobacterium (LBA4404/pBI101 syn600-syn${\alpha}$-elicitin) to cotyledons of pepper, rate of shoot formation in 'Subicho' was 11.1% in medium containing 3 mg/L zeatin and 0.05 mg/L NAA, and also 12.8% in medium containing combination of 4 mg/L zeatin and 0.05 mg/L MAA. For PCR reaction using elicitin gene primer of transformants regenerated from cotyledons, we detected a specific band of 536 bp, and also showed strong signal at position of 536 bp in accordance with NPTII gene used as probe in Southern blot. Transformants pepper shown resistance to blight fungus was inoculated to seedlings of the $T_{1}\;and\;T_{2}$ transformants by concentration (density: zoo spore $10^{3}/mL$).

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.643-654
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• 2021

Phytophthora capsici is one of the most destructive hemibiotrophic pathogens; it can cause blight in chili peppers, and secrete various effector proteins to infect the plants. These effectors contain an N-terminal conserved RXLR motif. Here, we generated full-length RXLR effector coding genes using primer pairs, and cloned them into the pGR106 vector for in planta expression. Two of these genes, PcREK6 and PcREK41 (P. capsici RXLR effector from the Korea isolate), were further characterized. PcREK6 and PcREK41 genes showed that they encode effector proteins with a general modular structure, including the N-terminal conserved RXLR-DEER motif and signal peptide sequences. PcREK6 and PcREK41 expressions were strongly induced when the chili pepper plants (Capsicum annuum) were challenged with P. capsici. These results provide molecular evidence to elucidate the virulence or avirulence factors in chili pepper. Our results also showed that two effectors induce hypersensitive response (HR) cell death when expressed in chili leaves. Cell death suppression assays in Nicotiana benthamiana revealed that most effectors could not suppress programmed cell death (PCD) triggered by Bcl-associated X (BAX) or Phytophthora infestans elicitin (INF1). However, PcREK6 fully suppressed PCD triggered by BAX, while PcREK41 partially suppressed PCD triggered by INF1 elicitin. These results suggest that PcREK effectors from P. capsici interact with putative resistance (R) proteins in planta, and different effectors may target different pathways in a plant cell to suppress pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) or effector-triggered immunity (ETI).

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.209-215
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• 2010

Plant pathogenic oomycetes, such as Phytophthora spp., are the causal agent of the most devastating plant diseases. During infection, these pathogens accomplish parasitic colonization of plants by modulating host defenses through an array of disease effector proteins. These effectors are classified in two classes based on their target sites in the host plant. Apoplastic effectors are secreted into the plant extracellular space, and cytoplasmic effectors are translocated inside the plant cell, through the haustoria that enter inside living host cell. Recent characterization of some oomycete Avr genes showed that they encode effector protein with general modular structure including N-terminal conserved RXLR-DEER motif. More detailed evidences suggest that these AVR effectors are secreted by the pathogenic oomycetes and then translocated into the host plant cell during infection. Recent findings indicated that one of the P. infestans effector, Avrblb2, specifically induces hypersensitive response (HR) in the presence of Solanum bulbocastanum late blight resistance genes Rpi-blb2. On the other hand, another secreted RXLR protein PexRD8 originated from P. infestans suppressed the HCD triggered by the elicitin INF1. In this review, we described recent progress in characterized RXLR effectors in Phytophthora spp. and their dual functions as modulators of host plant immunity.