Maize fungal genome is deciphered

MARBURG, Germany, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- German scientists say they have deciphered the genome of Ustilago maydis, a fungus that causes disease in maize.

Regine Kahmann and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, located in Marburg, Germany, say they found the organism derives nutrients from a live host, making it the first so-called biotrophic plant parasite to have its genetic makeup sequenced. In particular, the researchers found 12 clusters of genes encoding small, secreted proteins, with unknown functions.

The team generated a range of mutant fungi, each with deletions in a particular cluster. Five of the clusters were involved in the process of plant infection. These are the first infection-related factors to be found for U. maydis.

Approximately 7,000 predicted protein-encoding genes were found but the parasite's genome contained none of the disease-causing signatures found in the genomes of fungi that use enzymes and toxins to kill their hosts. That, said the researchers, highlights the novel infection strategy used by U. maydis.

The study appears in the journal Nature.