Plant Proteomics Upon Fungal Attack

Plant diseases caused by fungi and oomycetes are considered to represent a severe limiting factor to food production, with major economic impact. Therefore, it is of general concern to elucidate the details of fungal plant pathogenesis, including the molecular mechanisms of disease and the nature of the host cellular response. In recent years, proteomic analyses have emerged as a powerful approach to study effector proteins that derive from phytopathogens as well as defence-related proteins that are induced in infected plants to overcome disease. Proteomics now represents a valuable complement to genomic approaches. This chapter reviews recent advances in proteomic research, focussing on both the above-mentioned aspects, i.e. (1) the molecular mechanisms by which fungal plant pathogens establish infection, and (2) the defence-related strategies of plants to counteract or resist such challenges. Types or classes of proteins involved in these processes that have been investigated with proteomic or related methods are presented here. These include extracellular and cytoplasmic effector proteins, pathogen-associated molecular patterns, and inducible defence-related plant proteins such as pathogenesis-related proteins as well as phosphorylated proteins involved in disease signalling. Additional aspects of the responses to disease of plants, concerning specificity, systemic signal transduction and systemic acquired resistance, are also addressed.