The rise and fall of genes: origins and functions of plant pathogen pangenomes
Abstract
Plant pathogens can rapidly overcome resistance of their hosts by mutating key pathogenicity genes encoding for effectors. Pathogen adaptation is fuelled by extensive genetic variability in populations and different strains may not share the same set of genes. Recently, such an intra-specific variation in gene content became formalized as pangenomes distinguishing core genes (i.e. shared) and accessory genes (i.e. lineage or strain-specific). Across pathogens species, key effectors tend to be part of the rapidly evolving accessory genome. Here, we show how the construction and analysis of pathogen pangenomes provide deep insights into the dynamic host adaptation process. We also discuss how pangenomes should ideally be built and how geography, niche and lifestyle likely determine pangenome sizes.
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BibTeX
@article{badet2026rise,
title = {{The rise and fall of genes: origins and functions of plant pathogen pangenomes}},
author = {Thomas Badet and Daniel Croll},
journal = {Current Opinion in Plant Biology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.pbi.2020.04.009},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05802463v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - The rise and fall of genes: origins and functions of plant pathogen pangenomes
AU - Thomas Badet
AU - Daniel Croll
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/16
JO - Current Opinion in Plant Biology
DO - 10.1016/j.pbi.2020.04.009
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05802463v1
AB - Plant pathogens can rapidly overcome resistance of their hosts by mutating key pathogenicity genes encoding for effectors. Pathogen adaptation is fuelled by extensive genetic variability in populations and different strains may not share the same set of genes. Recently, such an intra-specific variation in gene content became formalized as pangenomes distinguishing core genes (i.e. shared) and accessory genes (i.e. lineage or strain-specific). Across pathogens species, key effectors tend to be part of the rapidly evolving accessory genome. Here, we show how the construction and analysis of pathogen pangenomes provide deep insights into the dynamic host adaptation process. We also discuss how pangenomes should ideally be built and how geography, niche and lifestyle likely determine pangenome sizes.
SN - 1369-5266
SN - 1879-0356
ER -