The species of the genus Pseudozyma belong to ustilaginales based on the morphological studies1 and molecular characterization.2,3 There are 11 species reported so far from this genus that are distinguished by analysing the sequences of combined ITS and D1/D2 regions. Boekhout & Fell4 reported seven species and Sugita et al.5 described two species isolated from blood of the patients. Two more s...

Fungi represent a distinct kingdom of ubiquitous living beings. Most other organisms are constantly in contact with elements the fungal body. In particular, widespread vegetation fungi environment, their sporulation and further spread spores mycelia by air currents make particles human respiratory organs inevitable. This can lead to development sensitization allergies. Therefore, aim presented ...

In Ustilago violacea conjugation involves a period of courtship followed by the cooperative assembly of a conjugation tube between paired sporidia of opposite mating type. During courtship information is exchanged between the paired sporidia directing transcription and translation of a ' sex message'. This information exchange is completed even though the plasma membranes and walls of the matin...

The phenolic compound salicylic acid (SA) is a key signalling molecule regulating local and systemic plant defense responses, mainly against biotrophs. Many microbial organisms, including pathogens, share the ability to degrade SA. However, the mechanism by which they perceive SA is unknown. Here we show that Ustilago maydis, the causal agent of corn smut disease, employs a so far uncharacteriz...

Host specialization is a key evolutionary process for the diversification and emergence of new pathogens. However, the molecular determinants of host range are poorly understood. Smut fungi are biotrophic pathogens that have distinct and narrow host ranges based on largely unknown genetic determinants. Hence, we aimed to expand comparative genomics analyses of smut fungi by including more speci...

Bromus tectorum L. (cheatgrass or downy brome) is an important exotic weed in natural ecosystems as well as in winter cereal cropland in semiarid western North America. The systemic, seedling-infecting head smut pathogen Ustilago bullata Berk. commonly infects cheatgrass stands, often at epidemic levels. We examined factors controlling U. bullata infection levels in greenhouse studies with pare...

The loose smut of wheat (Ustilago tritici (Pers.) Jens.) (PI. 1), according to estimates compiled in the Plant Disease Bulletin 3 for the years 1917 to 1921, inclusive, caused an average annual loss to farmers of the United States amounting to more than 11,000,000 bushels. Recommendations for control of this disease in this country have been confined to treatment of the seed by the modified hot...

Sympatry of species that lack complete prezygotic isolation is ideal for the study of how species can be maintained in the face of potential gene flow. This is particularly important in the context of emerging diseases on new hosts because pathogen adaptation is facilitated by reduced gene flow from ancestral populations. Here, we investigated divergence and gene flow between two closely relate...

Ustilagic acid is a water-insoluble glycolipid produced by Ustilago may&, the corn smut fungus. It was discovered by Haskins (l), and its structure was elucidated by Lemieux, Thorn, and Bauer (2, 3). Pilot plant quantities are being produced in Japan.’ Ustilagic acid was shown to be a mixture of acylated derivatives of /I-n-cellobiosyl-15u, l&dihydroxy-n-hexadecanoic acid (glucoustilic acid A) ...