Advancing Knowledge on Biology of Rust Fungi Through Genomics

Pucciniales are an important group of fungal plant pathogens that cause rust diseases in a diverse group of hosts including ecologically and economically important crops and trees. Rust fungi have intriguing and complex life cycles and are obligate biotrophs. Because of their biological features, these fungi are very difficult to study under laboratory conditions. The recent advances in genomics and transcriptomics have opened great perspectives for making progress in the study of this group of fungi and more particularly to dissect the genetic determinants underlying the host infection process. In this chapter, we provide an overview of the current knowledge on rust genomics and Advances in Botanical Research, Volume 70 # 2014 Elsevier Ltd ISSN 0065-2296 All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-397940-7.00006-9 173 we particularly highlight how next-generation sequencing technologies are moving this field forward, providing new avenues in the understanding of fungal biotrophy.