A large number of effector candidates have been identified recently in powdery mildew fungi. However, their roles and how they perform their functions remain unresolved. In this study, we made use of host-induced gene silencing and confirmed that the secreted barley powdery mildew effector candidate, CSEP0055, contributes to the aggressiveness of the fungus. This result suggests that CSEP0055 is involved in the suppression of plant defence. A yeast two-hybrid screen indicated that CSEP0055 interacts with members of the barley pathogenesis-related protein families, PR1 and PR17. Interaction with PR17c was confirmed by bimolecular fluorescence complementation analyses. Down-regulation and over-expression of PR17c in epidermal cells of barley confirmed that this protein is important for penetration resistance against the powdery mildew fungus. In line with this, PR17c was found to be apoplastic, localizing to the papillae formed in response to this fungus. The CSEP0055 transcript did not start to accumulate until 24 h after inoculation. This suggests that this gene is expressed too late to influence primary penetration events, but rather sustains the fungus at sites of secondary penetration, where PR17c appears to be able to accumulate.

Host cell vesicle traffic is essential for the interplay between plants and microbes. ADP-ribosylation factor (ARF) GTPases are required for vesicle budding, and we studied the role of these enzymes to identify important vesicle transport pathways in the plant-powdery mildew interaction. A combination of transient-induced gene silencing and transient expression of inactive forms of ARF GTPases provided evidence that barley (Hordeum vulgare) ARFA1b/1c function is important for preinvasive penetration resistance against powdery mildew, manifested by formation of a cell wall apposition, named a papilla. Mutant studies indicated that the plasma membrane-localized REQUIRED FOR MLO-SPECIFIED RESISTANCE2 (ROR2) syntaxin, also important for penetration resistance, and ARFA1b/1c function in the same vesicle transport pathway. This was substantiated by a requirement of ARFA1b/1c for ROR2 accumulation in the papilla. ARFA1b/1c is localized to multivesicular bodies, providing a functional link between ROR2 and these organelles in penetration resistance. During Blumeria graminis f sp hordei penetration attempts, ARFA1b/1c-positive multivesicular bodies assemble near the penetration site hours prior to the earliest detection of callose in papillae. Moreover, we showed that ARFA1b/1c is required for callose deposition in papillae and that the papilla structure is established independently of ARFA1b/1c. This raises the possibility that callose is loaded into papillae via multivesicular bodies, rather than being synthesized directly into this cell wall apposition.

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