TY  - GEN
T1  - Loss of nucleosome assembly protein 1 affects growth and appressorium structure in blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae
AU  - Panchal, Shweta
AU  - Sanyal, Kaustuv
DO  - 10.17912/micropub.biology.000520
UR  - http://beta.micropublication.org/journals/biology/micropub-biology-000520/
AB  - Rice blast, caused by Magnaporthe oryzae, is a devastating plant disease with epidemics leading to losses of up to 30% of rice harvest yield (Wilson and Talbot 2009). This organism tops the list of ten major fungal pathogens in molecular plant pathology, owing to concerns over food security and economy (Dean et al. 2012). M. oryzae has a unique infection cycle. Infection is initiated when a fungal spore or a conidium attaches itself to the rice leaf cuticle and on receiving the suitable environmental cues, germinates to give rise to a single polarised germ tube. The germ tube later differentiates into a dome-shaped infection structure called the appressorium. Immense turgor pressure is generated within the appressorium which leads to mechanical disruption of the underlying leaf cell wall that facilitates the fungus to invade the plant cell where it proliferates and spreads in the plant tissue. In high humidity, the fungus sporulates out of the host and the spores are spread in the environment via rain splash and wind (Wilson and Talbot 2009). Elucidation of each of these steps is owed to results of extensive research in the last few decades which led to identification of several proteins and pathways involved in the infection cycle. This study was undertaken with the aim to understand the role of a core protein, nucleosome assembly protein (Nap1) in the life cycle of the blast fungus M. oryzae.
PY  - 2022
JO  - microPublication Biology
ER  -