by Playfuls Staff |
15th November 2006
A German-led international group of researchers has identified the genes that enable the maize smut pathogen to [more] live as a parasite.
Led by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg, Germany, the scientists have analyzed the U. maydis genome. Among the 7,000 genes of the fungus, they have found some with which the fungus lives at the expense of its host plant -- without killing it.
Those genes, say the team of nearly 80 scientists from around the world, probably also help the fungus to circumvent the plant's defenses. Researchers are now hoping to apply their findings to other fungi, which like Ustilago maydis depend on living plants.
The study appears in the Nov. 2 issue of the journal Nature.
© 2006 UPI
