In silico identification and characterization of effector catalogs.

Many characterized fungal effector proteins are small secreted proteins. Effectors are defined as those proteins that alter host cell structure and/or function by facilitating pathogen infection. The identification of effectors by molecular and cell biology techniques is a difficult task. However, with the availability of whole-genome sequences, these proteins can now be predicted in silico. Here, we describe in detail how to identify and characterize effectors from a defined fungal proteome using in silico techniques.