Publications by authors named "Kohtetsu Kita"
Rice blast fungus (Pyricularia oryzae) is a heterothallic ascomycete that causes the most destructive disease in cultivated rice worldwide. This fungus reproduces sexually and asexually, and its mating type is determined by the MAT1 locus, MAT1-1 or MAT1-2. Interestingly, most rice-infecting field isolates show a loss of female fertility, but the MAT1 locus is highly conserved in female-sterile isolates.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Some fungal species reproduce asexually, with the rice blast fungus showing that while some isolates retain mating ability, most are female sterile, potentially losing fertility as they spread.
- Mutations in the Pro1 gene, which regulates mating-related processes, have been identified as a key factor for this loss of female fertility in the fungus, confirmed through backcrossing between fertile and sterile isolates.
- Interestingly, these Pro1 mutations are also found in other geographically distant strains, suggesting that female infertility might benefit the life cycle of certain plant pathogenic fungi.