Genus-wide analysis of antagonism toward and plant pathogens and the contribution of cellulases to the antagonism.

Parasitism is an important lifestyle in the genus but has not been studied in a genus-wide way toward and hosts. Our approach screened a genus-wide set of 30 species in dual culture assays with two soil-borne and three plant-parasitic species and used exo-proteomic analyses, with the aim to correlate antagonism with potential strategies for attacking and . The spp.

Growth, Enzymatic, and Transcriptomic Analysis of Deletion Reveals a Major Regulator of Plant Biomass-Degrading Enzymes in .

The regulation of plant biomass degradation by fungi is critical to the carbon cycle, and applications in bioproducts and biocontrol. is an important plant biomass degrader, enzyme producer, and biocontrol agent, but few putative major transcriptional regulators have been deleted in this species. The .

MoCpa1-mediated arginine biosynthesis is crucial for fungal growth, conidiation, and plant infection of Magnaporthe oryzae.

Arginine is an important amino acid involved in processes such as cell signal transduction, protein synthesis, and sexual reproduction. To understand the biological roles of arginine biosynthesis in pathogenic fungi, we used Cpa1, the carbamoyl phosphate synthase arginine-specific small chain subunit in Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a query to identify its ortholog in the Magnaporthe oryzae genome and named it MoCpa1. MoCpa1 is a 471-amino acid protein containing a CPSase_sm_chain domain and a GATase domain.

The molecular mechanism underlying pathogenicity inhibition by sanguinarine in Magnaporthe oryzae.

Background: Sanguinarine (SAN) is a benzophenanthridine alkaloid that broadly targets a range of pathways in mammalian and fungal cells. In this study we set out to explore the molecular mechanism of sanguinarine inhibition of the fungal development and pathogenicity of Magnaporthe oryzae with the hope that sanguinarine will bolster the development of antiblast agents.

Results: We found that the fungus exhibited a significant reduction in vegetative growth and hyphal melanization while the spores produced long germ tubes on the artificial hydrophobic surface characteristic of a defect in thigmotropic sensing when exposed to 4, 8 and 0.

Regulatory network of genes associated with stimuli sensing, signal transduction and physiological transformation of appressorium in .

Rice blast caused by is the most destructive disease affecting the rice production (), with an average global loss of 10-30% per annum. Recent reports have indicated that the fungus also inflicts blast disease on wheat () posing a serious threat to the wheat production. Due to its easily detected infectious process and manoeuvrable genetic manipulation, is considered a model organism for exploring the molecular mechanism underlying fungal pathogenicity during the pathogen-host interaction.

WD40-repeat protein MoCreC is essential for carbon repression and is involved in conidiation, growth and pathogenicity of Magnaporthe oryzae.

Carbon catabolite repression (CCR) is a common regulatory mechanism used by microorganisms to prioritize use of a preferred carbon source (usually glucose). The CreC WD40-repeat protein is a major component of the CCR pathway in Aspergillus nidulans. To clarify the function of the CreC ortholog from Magnaporthe oryzae in regulating gene expression important for pathogenesis, MoCreC was identified and genetically characterized.