Verticillium transcription activator of adhesion 3 (Vta3) is required for plant root colonization and pathogenicity of the soil-borne vascular fungus Verticillium dahliae [Bui et al., 2018]. In this study, we discovered that Vta3 contributes to the virulence of V. dahliae on tomato plants by promoting ELV1 gene expression, which is not necessary for vegetative growth or production of conidiospores. Gene expression of the transcription factor Mtf1 is reduced in the presence of an intact VTA3 gene. The presence of an intact MTF1 gene triggers the expression of fungal effector genes and plant immune responses (transcription of tomato pathogenesis-related protein genes, and levels of pipecolic and salicylic acids functioning in tomato defense signaling against (hemi-) biotrophic pathogens), and is required for disease symptoms similar to those seen in tomato plants infected by the V. dahliae wild-type. Mtf1 promotes the formation of resting structures at the end of the infection cycle, which allows the fungus to survive in the soil and later to re-infect host plants. Protein pull-downs were performed with GFP-fused Vta3 to investigate whether there is evidence for a direct interaction of the regulators Vta3 and Mtf1. In this study, ribosomal proteins predominantly co-enriched with Vta3, and our data set did not give evidence that Mtf1 directly interacts with Vta3. Bui T-T, Harting R, Braus-Stromeyer SA, Tran V-T, Leonard M, Höfer A, et al. Verticillium dahliae transcription factors Som1 and Vta3 control microsclerotia formation and sequential steps of plant root penetration and colonisation to induce disease. New Phytologist. 2019;221: 2138–2159. doi:10.1111/nph.15514