Wheat stem rust, caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt), is a devastating disease that can cause severe yield losses. A previously uncharacterized Pgt race, designated Ug99, has overcome most of the widely used resistance genes and is threatening major wheat production areas. Here, we demonstrate that the Sr35 gene from Triticum monococcum is a coiled-coil, nucleotide-binding, leucine...

Pathogens offer many of the most fascinating and well-studied examples of evolution because their speed of adaptation allows observation of evolutionary change within human lifetimes. The rapid evolution observed in pathogenic viruses, bacteria, and fungi affect human, animal, and plant health globally. For example, influenza viruses regularly recombine genes affecting host range, infection pat...

Kwak, Y.-S., Bakker, P. A. H. M., Glandorf, D. C. M., Rice, J. T., Paulitz, T. C., and Weller, D. M. 2009. Diversity, virulence, and 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol sensitivity of Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici isolates from Washington State. Phytopathology 99:472-479. We determined whether isolates of the take-all pathogen Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici become less sensitive to 2,4-diac...