Class V chitin synthases are fungal virulence factors required for plant infection. They consist of a myosin motor domain fused to a membrane-spanning chitin synthase region that participates in fungal cell wall formation. The function of the motor domain is unknown, but it might deliver the myosin chitin synthase-attached vesicles to the growth region. Here, we analyze the importance of both d...

Sugarcane smut disease is caused by the biotrophic fungus Sporisorium scitamineum. The disease is characterized by the development of a whip-like structure from the primary meristems, where billions of teliospores are produced. Sugarcane smut also causes tillering and low sucrose and high fiber contents, reducing cane productivity. We investigated the biological events contributing to disease s...

Ustilaginoidea virens is a flower-infecting fungus that forms false smut balls in rice panicle. Rice false smut has long been considered a minor disease, but recently it occurred frequently and emerged as a major disease in rice production. In vitro co-cultivation of U. virens strain with young rice panicles showed that U. virens enters inside of spikelets from the apex and then grows downward ...

Genomic regions that determine mating compatibility are subject to distinct evolutionary forces that can lead to a cessation of meiotic recombination and the accumulation of structural changes between members of the homologous chromosome pair. The relatively recent discovery of dimorphic mating-type chromosomes in fungi can aid the understanding of sex chromosome evolution that is common to dio...

Plants and fungi display a broad range of interactions in natural and agricultural ecosystems ranging from symbiosis to parasitism. These ecological interactions result in coevolution between genes belonging to different partners. A well-understood example is secreted fungal effector proteins and their host targets, which play an important role in pathogenic interactions. Biotrophic smut fungi ...

Sporisorium reilianum f.sp zeae, a basidiomycetous fungus belonging to Ustilaginaceae, is the causal agent of maize head smut. Its pathogenicity is initiated by fusion of two compatible sporidia which give rise to the formation of a dikaryotic pathogenic hyphe. In addition, pathogenic dimorphic diploid strains called solopathogens can be formed where no mating occurs. Strigolactones are the tra...

Downy mildew caused by Sclerospora graminicola (Sacc.) Schroët. and smut caused by Moesziomyces penicillariae (Bref.) Vanky are the most important diseases (in that order) limiting the productivity of pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] in Asia and Africa (Thakur et al. 1992; Singh et al. 1993). These diseases are more serious on commercial F1 hybrids than on open-pollinated varieties...

33 The microbial conversion of plant biomass to valuable products in a consolidated bioprocess 34 could greatly increase the ecologic and economic impact of a biorefinery. Current strategies 35 for hydrolysis of plant material mostly rely on the external application of carbohydrate-active 36 enzymes (CAZymes). Alternatively, production organisms can be engineered to secrete 37 CAZymes to reduce...

Rice false smut, a fungal disease caused by Ustilaginoidea virens is becoming a severe detriment to rice production worldwide. However, little is known about the molecular response of rice to attacks by the smut pathogen. In this article, we define the initial infection process as having three stages: initial colonization on the pistil (stage 1, S1), amplification on the anther (stage 2, S2) an...