Abstract The powdery mildew fungi secrete numerous Candidate Secreted Effector Proteins (CSEPs) to manipulate host immunity during infection of host plants. However, the function of most of these CSEPs in cell death suppression has not yet been established. Here, we identified several CSEPs from Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei (Bgh) that have the potential to suppress BAX- and NtMEK2DD-triggered cell death in Nicotiana benthamiana. We further characterized two effector candidates, CSEP0139 and CSEP0182, from family six and thirty-two, respectively. CSEP0139 and CSEP0182 contain a functional signal peptide and are likely secreted effectors. Expression of either CSEP0139 or CSEP0182 suppressed cell death triggered by BAX and NtMEK2DD but not by the AVRa13/MLA13 pair in N. benthamiana. Transient overexpression of CSEP0139 or CSEP0182 also inhibited BAX-induced cell death and collapse of cytoplasm in barley cells. Furthermore, overexpression of either CSEPs significantly increased Bgh haustorial formation in barley, whereas host-induced gene silencing (HIGS) of the CSEP genes reduced haustorial formation, suggesting both CSEPs promote Bgh virulence in barley. In addition, expression of CSEP0139 and CSEP0182 reduced size of the lesions caused by the necrotrophic Botrytis cinerea in N. benthamiana. Our findings suggest that CSEP0139 and CSEP0182 may target cell death components in plants to promote fungal virulence, which extends the current understanding of the functions of Bgh CSEPs and provides an opportunity for further investigation of fungal virulence in relation to cell death pathways in host plants.
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