Sporisorium scitamineum is a fungal smut pathogen epidemic in sugarcane producing areas. Early detection and proper identification of the smut are an essential requirement in its management practice. In this study, we developed a TaqMan real-time PCR assay using specific primers (bEQ-F/bEQ-R) and a TaqMan probe (bEQ-P) which were designed based on the bE (b East mating type) gene (Genbank Acces...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0106476.].

Sorghum downy mildew, caused by the obligate oomycete Peronosclerospora sorghi, has been controlled through the use of resistant cultivars and seed treatment with metalaxyl. A recent outbreak in fields planted with treated seed revealed the presence of a metalaxyl-resistant variant. Here, PCR-based methods including amplification from RAPD primers and two systems of automated AFLP analysis have...

Sugarcane smut caused by Sporisorium scitamineum is a critical fungal disease in the sugarcane industry. However, molecular mechanistic studies of pathological response of sugarcane to S. scitamineum are scarce and preliminary. Here, transcriptome analysis of sugarcane disease induced by S. scitamineum at 24, 48 and 120 h was conducted, using an S. scitamineum-resistant and -susceptible genotyp...

The head smut fungus, Sporisorium reilianum ([Kuhn] Landon and Fullerton), was shown to reduce plant height in infected Sorghum bicolor ([L.] Moench) plants. The major reductions occurred in the internodes nearest the panicle and were more severe in naturally infected than in inoculated plants. Less affected plants developed reproductively sterile panicles, and eventually smutted panicles devel...

The Rp1 region of maize was originally characterized as a complex locus which conditions resistance to the fungus Puccinia sorghi, the causal organism in the common rust disease. Some alleles of Rp1 are meiotically unstable, but the mechanism of instability is not known. We have studied the role of recombination in meiotic instability in maize lines homozygous for either Rp1-J or Rp1-G. Test cr...