Comparison of the linear coefficients from the regression analysis of 307 blast (Pyricularia grisea) disease progress curves of 42 rice genotypes, tested over a period of nine seasons, were made by fitting into the logistic and Gompertz models. The regression parameters Yintercept (a), regression coefficient (b), its standard error (SEb), coefficient of determination (R) and the time required f...

In muscle cells, excitation-contraction coupling involves the translocation of Ca(2+) between intracellular compartments and the cytosol. Heat derived from the hydrolysis of ATP by the sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-ATPase of skeletal muscle plays an important role in the thermoregulation and energy balance of the cell. Although several Ca(2+)-ATPase isoforms have been described in vertebrates, ...

Rice blast is caused by the fungus Magnaporthe grisea, which elaborates specialized infection cells called appressoria to penetrate the tough outer cuticle of the rice plant Oryza sativa. We found that the formation of an appressorium required, sequentially, the completion of mitosis, nuclear migration, and death of the conidium (fungal spore) from which the infection originated. Genetic interv...

In additioll to momilactone, phytocassanes A through E (diterpene phytoalexins) were detected in rice leaves in fields suffering from rice blast. Furthermore, phytocassane accumulation was mest abundant at the edges of necrotic lesions, indicating that the phytoalexins prevent subsequent spread of the fungus from the infected site. In pot experiments the pattern of phytocassane accumulation in ...