Figure 2.

Representation of the main nucleus-localized effector-related processes and the principal wet lab techniques used for the identification of plant targets. AMF effectors are synthesized and processed for signal peptide-directed secretion to the apoplast where some of them translocate to the intracellular space and further to other compartments, such as the nucleus. Once in the plant cell, the effectors associate with RNA, DNA, or RNA to modulate their activity. Although PPI techniques, such as Y2H and IP have been proven useful for the identification of plant proteins targeted by AMF effectors, alternative methods that include protein proximity labeling can be exploited. No AMF effector with DNA or RNA manipulating function has been studied yet. Nevertheless, DNA-targeted sequences by other fungal effector proteins have been identified with ChIP and its derived variants, whereas RNA-bound regions can be studied by means of RIP and iCLIP.