M agnaporthe and Its Relatives

Abstract

One of the main current societal challenges is the production of food supplies to feed a constantly growing human population. In the forthcoming years, we will have to increase the global production of staple cereals such as rice to achieve this goal. Several factors compromise this objective, including the variation of raining patterns due to climate change and pathogen infections that drastically reduce crop yields. Wheat and rice are frequently affected by diseases caused by several root‐infecting species of Magnaporthales such as Gaeumannomyces graminis , Magnaporthiopsis rhizophila and Nakatea oryzae (syn. Magnaporthe salvinii ). Other economically significant root pathogen of this fungal family is Magnaporthiopsis poae , which causes severe damages in turfs used for sport courts flooring and home lawns. The blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae , an extremely damaging airborne fungal pathogen of wheat and rice, also infects underground tissues. This is in accordance with the distinct penetration strategies displayed by M. oryzae during aerial and underground plant colonisation. Key Concepts A clade is a phylogenetic group, which comprises a single common ancestor and all the descendants of that ancestor. The appressorium in Magnaporthales is a melanised fungal structure required for penetration of aerial plant tissues, and it is formed at the tips of spore germ tubes or hyphae. An hyphopodium in Magnaporthales is a specialised structure produced at the tip of the hyphae to penetrate roots. Gaemannomyces sp . can produce simple or lobed hyphopodia. M. oryzae produces simple hyphopodia. Disease‐suppressive soils are soils in which little or no disease occurs under favorable conditions for disease development. Generally, this is due to the presence of indigenous soil microbes. The immune response in rice roots and leaves against the blast disease differs.