Modulation of Nutritional and Biochemical Properties of Wheat Grains Infected by Blast Fungus Pathotype.

Wheat blast disease caused by the () pathotype exerts a significant impact on grain development, yield, and quality of the wheat. The aim of this study was to investigate morphological, physiological, biochemical, and nutritional properties of wheat cv. BARI Gom 24 under varying levels of blast disease severity in wheat spikes.

Cautionary Notes on Use of the MoT3 Diagnostic Assay for Magnaporthe oryzae Wheat and Rice Blast Isolates.

The blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae is comprised of lineages that exhibit varying degrees of specificity on about 50 grass hosts, including rice, wheat, and barley. Reliable diagnostic tools are essential given that the pathogen has a propensity to jump to new hosts and spread to new geographic regions. Of particular concern is wheat blast, which has suddenly appeared in Bangladesh in 2016 before spreading to neighboring India.

Emergence of wheat blast in Bangladesh was caused by a South American lineage of Magnaporthe oryzae.

Background: In February 2016, a new fungal disease was spotted in wheat fields across eight districts in Bangladesh. The epidemic spread to an estimated 15,000 hectares, about 16 % of the cultivated wheat area in Bangladesh, with yield losses reaching up to 100 %. Within weeks of the onset of the epidemic, we performed transcriptome sequencing of symptomatic leaf samples collected directly from Bangladeshi fields.