NPR had a story this weekend on Cocoa plantation collapse and the ecological aftermath of the changes the witches' broom fungus [[Moniliophthora perniciosa]] has wreaked. The genome sequence project for this Homobasidiomycete fungus is underway.
Will you always be able to satisfy that chocolate craving?
Posted on June 15th, 2008 by Jason Stajich · No Comments
Categories: genome sequencing · homobasidiomycota · plant pathogen
Phytophthora work highlighted
Posted on April 22nd, 2008 by Jason Stajich · No Comments
A link to the story about Matteo Garbelotto's work on Phytophthora ramorum and showing that the source in California is likely from ornamentals from a nursery. The work is to appear soon in Molecular Ecology but alas is not available yet.
A recent paper on updated Phytophthora phylogeny from Jamie Blair and co-authors is also out in FGB.
Categories: phytophora · plant pathogen
DuPont donates genome sequence of maize pathogen
Posted on April 3rd, 2008 by Jason Stajich · No Comments
DuPont/Pioneer Hi-Bred has donated the genome sequence of the Sordariomycete Colletotrichum graminicola into the public domain by depositing the sequence in GenBank. The FGI through the Broad Institute are also sequencing a strain of C. graminicola (teleomorph Glomerella graminicola)
Categories: sordariomycetes
Banana black leaf fungus sequenced
Posted on November 17th, 2007 by Jason Stajich · No Comments
The JGI have released the genome sequence and annotation of the Mycosphaerella fijiensis fungus an important crop pathogen of bananas. This Dothideomycete fungus is one of several in the clade of important plant pathogens that have been sequenced recently including M. gramicola, a relative that causes wheat-blotch.
Categories: dothideomycetes · genome
Fusarium graminearum genome published
Posted on September 8th, 2007 by Jason Stajich · 1 Comment
The genome of the wheat and cereal pathogen Fusarium graminearum was published in Science this week in an article entitled "The Fusarium graminearum Genome Reveals a Link Between Localized Polymorphism and Pathogen Specializationtion". The project was a collaboration of many different Fusarium research groups.
Categories: RIP · filamentous · fusarium · genome · genome annotation · genome sequencing · plant pathogen
Genomes on the horizon at JGI
Posted on July 4th, 2007 by Jason Stajich · 1 Comment
Several more fungi are on the docket for sequencing at JGI through their community sequencing program. This includes
- The Dothideomycete leaf streak disease causing fungus Mycosphaerella fijiensis
- Soybean rust Phakopsora pachyrhizi
- The Basidiomycete and jelly fungus Tremella mesenterica proposed by Joe Heitman for use as outgroup to the human pathogen Cryptococcus
- The plant pathogen Cochliobolus heterostrophus proposed by Gillian Turgeon which ironically was already sequenced
Categories: NRPS · aspergillus · basidiomycota · chytridomycota · cryptococcus · dothideomycetes · fungi · genome · genome sequencing · neurospora · pathogens · plant pathogen · rumen · rusts · saccharomyces
Fungus could cause a food shortage
Posted on April 25th, 2007 by sharpton · 2 Comments
A while back, Jason blogged briefly on a New Scientists article about the rise of a new Puccinia graminis strain, Ug99, that is spreading through West African wheat fields at an enormous rates. It looks like this story is growing in the scientific conciousness, as Science is now running an article on the spread of this wheat pandemic.
Categories: adaptation · basidiomycota · evolution · fungi · news · plant pathogen · rusts
Puccinia black stem rust disease spreading
Posted on April 8th, 2007 by Jason Stajich · 3 Comments
The New Scientist has an article about the spread of black stem rust caused by Puccinia graminis. We briefly mentioned the 1st release of a Puccinia genome in January. Some more links about the spread of the Ug99 virulent strain.
- SeedQuest
- USDA information
- USDA information on Barberry & Puccinia graminis where the sexual stage of the fungus occurs.
Categories: basidiomycota · plant pathogen · rusts
That was a lot of work
Posted on April 3rd, 2007 by sharpton · No Comments
I've never worked with Magnaporthe grisea, the fungus responsible for rice blast, one of the most devastating crop diseases, but I do know that its life cycle is complicated and that knocking out roughly 61% of the genes in the genome and evaluating the mutant phenotype to infer gene function is not trivial. In their recent letter to Nature, Jeon et al did what many
Categories: functional · fungi · gene function · genome · genome annotation · magnaporthe · plant pathogen
All hail the rusts
Posted on January 24th, 2007 by Jason Stajich · No Comments
The FGI and the Broad Institute have released the 7X genome assembly of Puccinia graminis f. sp tritici in roughly 4500 contigs. This represents the first rust fungus to be sequenced.