This research review focuses on protist effectors, proteins secreted by protists that manipulate their photosynthetic hosts. The authors highlight the challenges in studying these effectors due to the complex life cycles and limited genomic data of many protists. Advanced genomic tools, such as AlphaFold2, are enabling structure-based predictions of effector functions, despite the limited genomic data available for these parasites. The study emphasizes the importance of understanding protist effectors for developing disease management strategies in agriculture and aquaculture. Furthermore, the review details various bioinformatic and experimental approaches to identify and characterize these effectors, overcoming the limitations of working with unculturable organisms.

Source: Decoding the Arsenal: Protist Effectors and Their Impacton Photosynthetic Hosts. MPMI Vol. 37, No. 6, 2024, pp. 498–506, https://doi.org/10.1094/MPMI-11-23-0196-CR

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