Oomycetes are an important group of microbial eukaryotes that include saprophytes and pathogens of plants, vertebrates, insects, and microbes. Some oomycetes play beneficial roles by cycling nutrients in ecosystems. Others, such as Phytophthora, are notorious plant pathogens and cause tens of billions of dollars of damage per year.
Oomycetes were once classified as true fungi since both groups typically exhibit filamentous growth and form spores. However, more recent data indicate that oomycetes reside in an entirely different branch of the evolutionary tree, in the Stramenopile Kingdom.
This web site contains technical resources pertaining to gene transfer (transformation) methods for oomycetes, and information about oomycete research in the Judelson laboratory at the University of California-Riverside.