1 Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Auburn University, Auburn, USA and Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University, Hyderabad, India. 2 Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Auburn University, Auburn, USA. 3 Department of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, USA. 4 International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad, India. 5 Depart...

The fungus Harpophora oryzae is a close relative of the pathogen Magnaporthe oryzae and a beneficial endosymbiont of wild rice. Here, we show that H. oryzae evolved from a pathogenic ancestor. The overall genomic structures of H. and M. oryzae were found to be similar. However, during interactions with rice, the expression of 11.7% of all genes showed opposing trends in the two fungi, suggestin...

Aspergillus flavus is the main etiological agent for aflatoxin contamination of crops. Its close relative, A. oryzae, does not produce aflatoxins and has been widely used to produce fermented foods. We compared the phylogeny of A. oryzae isolates and L- and S-type sclerotial isolates of A. flavus using single nucleotide polymorphisms in the omtA gene in the aflatoxin biosynthesis gene cluster a...

Herein, we report the first occurrence of web blight of rosemary caused by Rhizoctonia solani AG-1-IB in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, Korea, in August 2014. The leaf tissues of infected rosemary plants were blighted and white mycelial growth was seen on the stems. The fungus was isolated from diseased leaf tissue and cultured on potato dextrose agar for identification. The young hyphae had acut...

The antifungal activity of ethanol extract of Silybum marianum was investigated invitro against three strains of Rhizoctonia solani at different concentrations (5, 10, 15 and 20%). Bioassay of extract was conducted by poisoned food technique with three replications. The findings showed that strain of R. solani (Eggplant) was susceptible to concentrations of S. marianum more than other strains i...

Delineating species and epidemic lineages in fungal plant pathogens is critical to our understanding of disease emergence and the structure of fungal biodiversity and also informs international regulatory decisions. Pyricularia oryzae (syn. Magnaporthe oryzae) is a multihost pathogen that infects multiple grasses and cereals, is responsible for the most damaging rice disease (rice blast), and i...

In this issue of Applied and Environmental Microbiology (AEM), we publish a paper by Fenghuan Yang, Fang Tian, Huamin Chen, William Hutchins, Ching-Hong Yang, and Chenyang He from the State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee, reporting on ...

Microplot and small field-plot experiments were conducted to determine the effects of Pratylenchus penetrans on strawberry yield over several seasons and to evaluate the effects of nematode control on strawberry vigor and yield. Pratylenchus penetrans alone or in combination with the black root rot pathogen, Rhizoctonia fragariae, reduced strawberry yield in microplots over time. There were no ...