The identification and characterization of pathogenicity factors are essential to an understanding of the molecular events that regulate the interaction of plant-pathogenic microbes with their hosts. We have isolated the gene that encodes a host-selective toxic protein produced by the fungus Pyrenophora tritici-repentis and confirmed that this gene functions in the plant as the primary determinant of pathogenicity in the Pyrenophora-wheat interaction. These results demonstrate that a single gene encodes the production of a host-selective toxin and that transformation of this gene into a non-toxin-producing isolate of P. tritici-repentis leads to both toxin production and pathogenicity.

The identification and characterization of pathogenicity factors are essential to an understanding of the molecular events that regulate the interaction of plant-pathogenic microbes with their hosts. We have isolated the gene that encodes a host-selective toxic protein produced by the fungus Pyrenophora tritici-repentis and confirmed that this gene functions in the plant as the primary determinant of pathogenicity in the Pyrenophora-wheat interaction. These results demonstrate that a single gene encodes the production of a host-selective toxin and that transformation of this gene into a non-toxin-producing isolate of P. tritici-repentis leads to both toxin production and pathogenicity.

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