TY - JOUR T1 - <em>Verticillium dahliae</em> LysM effectors differentially contribute to virulence on plant hosts JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/085894 SP - 085894 AU - Anja Kombrink AU - Hanna Rovenich AU - Xiaoqian Shi-Kunne AU - Eduardo Rojas-Padilla AU - Grardy C.M. van den Berg AU - Emmanouil Domazakis AU - Ronnie de Jonge AU - Dirk-Jan Valkenburg AU - Andrea Sánchez-Vallet AU - Michael F. Seidl AU - Bart P.H.J. Thomma Y1 - 2016/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/11/05/085894.abstract N2 - Chitin-binding LysM effectors contribute to virulence of various plant pathogenic fungi that are causal agents of foliar diseases. Here, we report on LysM effectors of the soil-borne fungal vascular wilt pathogen Verticillium dahliae. Comparative genomics revealed three core LysM effectors that are conserved in a collection of V. dahliae strains. Remarkably, and in contrast to the previously studied LysM effectors of other plant pathogens, no expression of core LysM effectors was monitored in planta in a taxonomically diverse panel of host plants. Moreover, targeted deletion of the individual LysM effector genes in V. dahliae strain JR2 did not compromise virulence in infections on Arabidopsis, tomato or Nicotiana benthamiana. Interestingly, an additional lineage-specific LysM effector is encoded in the genome of V. dahliae strain VdLs17 but not in any other V. dahliae strain sequenced to date. Remarkably, this lineage-specific effector is expressed in planta and contributes to virulence of V. dahliae strain VdLs17 on tomato, but not on Arabidopsis or on N. benthamiana. Functional analysis revealed that this LysM effector binds chitin, is able to suppress chitin-induced immune responses, and protects fungal hyphae against hydrolysis by plant hydrolytic enzymes. Thus, in contrast to the core LysM effectors of V. dahliae, this lineage-specific LysM effector of strain VdLs17 contributes to virulence in planta. ER -