Effectors of Cellular Communication at the fungal-Plant interface

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Photo ECCP 2026


⚛︎ Our scientific project :
To establish compatible interactions with their hosts, plant pathogenic fungi secrete an array of molecules to modulate host physiology and overcome host immunity. These molecules, known as effectors, include small secreted proteins but also secondary metabolites (SMs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs).
The major goals of our team are to understand the mode of action and plant targets of fungal effectors and the mechanisms of communication between fungi and plants.

⚛︎ Our study models :
We are using two fungal models that have contrasting trophic behaviors and host ranges :
🍄 Botrytis cinerea, a necrotrophic and polyphagous plant pathogen.
🍄 Colletotrichum higginsianum, a hemibiotrophic pathogen of Arabidopsis thaliana and other brassicaceae.
Genomic/transcriptomic data and genetic tools are available for both fungi, as well as abundant mutants and transgenic lines of A. thaliana, a host that is shared by both pathogens. 

⚛︎ Our main topics :
🧫Fungal secondary metabolites
     📌What is the role of fungal secondary metabolites (SMs) as effectors in the infection process ? 
     📌 What are their modes of action and plant targets ?
🧬Genomic determinants of host specialization in the polyphagous pathogen Botrytis cinerea
     📌 Could transposable elements be involved ?
     📌 Could small RNAs be involved ? 
🔬 Mechanisms of trans-kingdom communication between fungi and plants
     📌 What is the role of fungal extracellular vesicles (EVs) in the infection process ?
 

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⮟⮟⮟   All our NEWS 🆕 below  ⮟⮟⮟

In this folder

Researchers from BIOGER, as part of an international consortium, demonstrate the role of a fungal metabolite in the generation of appressorial turgor and host plant penetration. The study is published in the February 12, 2026 issue of Science.

Congratulations to Margot Magnier and Héloïse Gaudin, who won the 1st prize in the poster competition at the 14th Scientific and Technical Days (JST) of the INRAE Microscopists Network !

Fungi: Exploring a kingdom with unsuspected powers! A focus on the study of specialized metabolites at BIOGER.

The first results of the ShySM project were presented at the International Symposium on Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, Cologne.

MIBiG was updated by an international consortium of 288 scientists. Jean-Félix DALLERY (BIOGER) contributed to the annotation and curation of fungal secondary metabolites.

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JOB OFFER FILLED !!! ECCP team is offering a M2 research internship entitled : Mechanisms of synthesis and release of fungal extracellular vesicles produced by phytopathogens

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JOB OFFER FILLED !!! ECCP team is offering a M2 research internship entitled : Mutant- and reporter-based investigation of the host specificity of fungal specialized metabolism and compartmentalization of the enzymes

Complete genome of the Medicago anthracnose fungus, Colletotrichum destructivum, reveals a mini-chromosome-like region within a core chromosome.

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