The isolation from bud scales and partial characterisation of highly active, low molecular weight, germination inhibitors, in concentrations correlated quantitively with resistance of N52/219, N11, NCo376, and NCo293, holds promise for the development of a rapid, quantitative, chemical assay for evaluating sugarcane for pre-infectional resistance to smut. Histopathological studies on stalk and ...

Fungal spores are an ever-present component of the atmosphere, and have long been known to trigger asthma and hay fever symptoms in sensitive individuals. The atmosphere around Tulsa has been monitored for airborne spores and pollen with Burkard spore traps at several sampling stations. This study involved the examination of the hourly spore concentrations on days that had average daily concent...

Volatile organic compounds produced by the fungus Muscodor albus inhibit or kill numerous fungi. The effect of these volatiles was tested on dormant and physiologically active teliospores of the smut fungi Tilletia horrida, Tilletia indica, and Tilletia tritici, which cause kernel smut of rice, Karnal bunt of wheat, and common bunt of wheat, respectively. Reactivated rye grain culture of M. alb...

Sporisorium reilianum and Ustilago maydis are two closely related smut fungi, which both infect maize but differ fundamentally in their mode of plant invasion and site of symptom development. As a prelude to studying the molecular basis of these differences, we have characterized the mating type loci of S. reilianum. S. reilianum has two unlinked mating type loci, a and b. Genes in both loci an...

The occurrence of multiple pathogen species on a shared host species is unexpected when they exploit the same micro-niche within the host individual. One explanation for such observations is the presence of pathogen-specific resistances segregating within the host population into sites that are differentially occupied by the competing pathogens. This study used experimental inoculations to test...

Previous studies with the wheat smut fungus, Tilletia caries, showed that this organism contains all the enzymes necessary for the operation of the pentose cycle and apparently of glycolvsis as well (Newburgh et al., 1955). Since the occurrence of a different pathway of carbohydrate catabolism or the predominance of a known pathway in the smut organism may be of importance for the control of sm...

Comparing data produced from artificial inoculation experiments to evaluate smut susceptibilities of varieties, with observations on established variety trials and results from smut exposure trials, it was concluded that the varietal resistance to smut was best determined by natural infection methods. The smut susceptibility of about 50 varieties under test in the Lowveld has been determined. N...

Little is known about the population mating behavior of the smut fungus Ustilago maydis DC (Corda). To determine the amount of inbreeding that occurs in local U. maydis populations, two cornfields were sampled, one in North America (NA) at Le Sueur, Minnesota, and one in South America (SA) at Tarariras, Uruguay. These fields were chosen because of their geographic isolation and host management ...

As reported earlier by Grimm & Allen, the addition of zinc to the sporidia of the smut fungus, Ustilago sphaerogena, evokes the formation of large amounts of cytochrome c. This occurs under conditions where the rates of increase of dry weight, RNA, and DNA remain unaffected. Actinomycin D added with zinc specifically abolishes the formation of cytochrome c. The system behaves as if cytochrome c...

Tilletia horrida is the most destructive fungal pathogen of rice (Oryza sativa L.). The 20,105,270-bp draft genome sequence of T. horrida strain QB-1 is reported here. Genes encoding proteins associated with key virulence factors were predicted, and this can provide information for understanding the pathogenic mechanisms in T. horrida.