Novel structural insights into Phytophthora effectors challenge long-held assumptions in plant pathology

How do evolutionarily conserved pathogen effectors maintain structural stability while engaging diverse host targets? In a new study published in Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions, researchers at the University of Pretoria's Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI) define a conserved subset of Phytophthora RxLR effectors in which short linear motifs (SLiMs) are embedded within folded WY domain cores.