Plasmodiophora brassicae, the causal agent of clubroot disease: a review on molecular and biochemical events in pathogenesis

The clubroot disease of the Brassicaceae, caused by the obligate biotroph P lasmodiophora brassicae, is one of the most damaging diseases within this p lant family. Despite the fact that P brassicae was identified as the causal agent of the clubroot disease already in the last century, its life cycle is still not entirely clear. The employment of molecular techniques to club root research has provided new means to identify the fungus more easily in plane tissues and has led to the identification of several factors importan t for the host-pathogen interaction The use of mutants and transgenic plant s of Arabidopsis thaliana have advanced the understanding towards the proce sses leading to successful invasion of the host as well as to resistance me chanisms. The possibilities of increasing tolerance/resistance to P. brassi cae are described and discussed. These results should be also beneficial to agricultural applications.