A survey of highly influential studies on plant pathogen effectors during the last two decades (2000-2020)

Plant effector biology is a research area that describes how plant-associated organisms modulate host structures and functions to promote colonization by using small molecules (effectors). In this article, we analyzed the 249 most highly-cited publications focused on plant pathogen effectors (aka Highly Influential studies on plant Pathogen Effectors; thereafter HIPEs) published between 2000 and 2020. This analysis identified outstanding countries, organizations, and journals that contributed HIPEs, as well as the evolution of research trends, model molecules, and model organisms over the last two decades. We notably show an increasing proportion of studies focused on effectors of biotrophic and hemibiotrophic fungi upon time. Our snapshot of the top tier plant effector biology papers will help readers gain a comprehensive and analytical understanding of this research area.