Powdery mildews are a group of economically and ecologically important plant pathogens. In the past 25 years use ribosomal DNA (rDNA) in powdery has led to major taxonomic revisions. However, broad scale rDNA also revealed multiple species complexes that cannot be differentiated based on ITS + LSU data alone. Currently, there only two mildew studies took multi-locus approach resolve complex. pr...

Molds, a subset of the fungi, are ubiquitous on our planet. Fungi are found in every ecological niche, and are necessary for the recycling of organic building blocks that allow plants and animals to live. Included in the group "fungi" are yeasts, molds and mildews, as well as large mushrooms, puffballs and bracket fungi that grow on dead trees. Fungi need external organic food sources and water...

The biology and genetics of developmentally regulated resistance to rusts and powdery mildews is being examined through a study of wheat mutants that express enhanced resistance to one or more of these pathogens. Mutants, isolated from the wheat varieties Hobbit ‘sib’ and Guardian, are being mapped to determine the number, location, and effect of each mutation contributing to each pathogen resi...

Among the group of ubiquitous soil inhabiting fungi, Trichoderma species are of considerable commercial importance due to their ability to suppress many plant pathogenic fungi. They have been widely studied and employed for management of root and seedling diseases of many crops since decades. In recent years they are also being utilized for minimising diseases of foliar plant parts, especially ...

The gene-for-gene hypothesis states that for each gene controlling resistance in the host, there is a corresponding, specific gene controlling avirulence in the pathogen. Allelic series of the cereal mildew resistance genes Pm3 and Mla provide an excellent system for genetic and molecular analysis of resistance specificity. Despite this opportunity for molecular research, avirulence genes in mi...

The Arabidopsis disease resistance (R) genes RPW8.1 and RPW8.2 couple the recognition of powdery mildew pathogens of this plant with the subsequent induction of a localized necrosis, or hypersensitive response (HR). The HR restricts the spread of the infection and renders the plant resistant. One-third of Arabidopsis plants transformed with a genomic fragment containing RPW8.1 and RPW8.2 develo...

For plant pathogenic fungi, such as powdery mildews, that survive only on a limited number of host plant species, it is a matter of vital importance that their spores sense that they landed on the right spot to initiate germination as quickly as possible. We investigated a barley (Hordeum vulgare) mutant with reduced epicuticular leaf waxes on which spores of adapted and nonadapted powdery mild...

Rust diseases caused by fungi of the order Pucciniales afflict a wide range of plants, including cereals, legumes, ornamentals, and fruit trees, and pose a serious threat to cropping systems and global food security. The obligate parasitic lifestyle of these fungi and their complex life cycles, often involving alternate hosts for the sexual and asexual stages, also make this group of pathogens ...

Current and emerging plant diseases caused by obligate parasitic microbes such as rusts, downy mildews, and powdery mildews threaten worldwide crop production and food safety. These obligate parasites are typically unculturable in the laboratory, posing technical challenges to characterize them at the genetic and genomic level. Here we have developed a data analysis pipeline integrating several...