The pan-effectome of Fusarium sambucinum species complex reveals novel virulence factors
Abstract: Fusarium species are responsible for economically important diseases such as Fusarium head blight and root rot in cereals, including wheat and barley. Central to these interactions are effectors; pathogen secreted proteins that modify the host environment to facilitate infection and suppress defences, a process known as Effector-Triggered Susceptibility (ETS). While these effectors evolved to disrupt host immunity and exacerbate disease, they can also be specifically recognized by host resistance genes. This recognition leads to Effector-Triggered Immunity (ETI), a robust defence response to halt pathogen spread, making effectors crucial determinants of host-pathogen interactions. Despite the pivotal role of this effector-mediated warfare in determining disease outcomes, large-scale comparative analyses of the Fusarium effector repertoire remain limited. In this study, we describe the pangenome Fusarium sambucinum species complex Effector Compendium (FUSEC) compiled from 195 globally distributed isolates. We resolved 2,402 non-singleton effector families, including 235 conserved “core” families shared across 95% of strains. Functional characterization of core effector families displaying signatures of positive selection demonstrated cultivar-specific virulence and avirulence patterns. These findings highlight how the interplay between ETS and ETI drives Fusarium host specificity and provides a framework for developing more resilient cereal varieties.
Speaker: Dr. Gopal Subramaniam has more than 30 years of experience in the field of plant-pathogen interactions. He obtained his doctoral degree from the University of Montreal and held an NSERC post-doctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill). He is a research scientist at the Ottawa Research and Development Centre – Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Dr. Subramaniam’s research emphasis is to identify and characterize factors that contribute to the pathogenicity of the phytopathogen Fusarium graminearum and develop technologies to mitigate diseases associated with this fungus. He is an Adjunct Professor in the Dept of Biology at Carleton University in Ottawa and in Cell and Systems Biology at the University of Toronto. He also collaborates with industries to develop novel biocontrol strategies using genetics and chemical genomics to mitigate both disease severity and reduce mycotoxin accumulation in wheat.
Date: April 30th, 2026
Time: 10:00 am CT / 11:00 am (Ottawa time)
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