Necrotrophic effectors produced by fungal pathogens of legume crops

Abstract

Despite their importance for the agriculture and the environment, the production of food legumes is decreasing in most of the Mediterranean farming systems. A major cause for this is the low and irregular yield as a consequence of biotic and abiotic stresses. Necrotrophic fungi, including essentially Ascochyta and Botrytis species, are among the main biotic constraints. Both fungal genus are well known phytotoxins producers. These toxins, belonging to different classes of natural compounds, are frequently involved in the development of disease symptoms. In this communication the chemical and biological characterization of the necrotrophic effectors produced by Didymella pinodes and Botrytis fabae pathogens of pea and faba bean respectively, will be reported. Furthermore, the studies aimed to identify novel resistance sources in the respective hosts in sensitivity assays will be discussed, too.