Ubiquitination from the perspective of plant pathogens

Abstract

The constant battle of survival between pathogens and host plants has played a crucial role in shaping the course of their co-evolution. However, the major determinants of the outcome of this ongoing arms race are the effectors secreted by pathogens into the host cells. These effectors perturb the defense responses of plants to promote their successful infection. In recent years, the extensive research in the area of effector biology has reported an increase in the repertoire of pathogenic effectors that mimics or targets the conserved ubiquitin proteasomal pathway. The role of ubiquitin mediated degradation pathway has been well known to be indispensable for various aspects of plant’s life, thus targeting or mimicking it seems to be a smart strategy adopted by pathogens in their favor. Therefore, this review summarizes the recent findings on how some pathogenic effectors mimics or act as one of the components of ubiquitin proteasomal machinery while others directly target the plant’s ubiquitin proteasomal system.