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Cochliobolus heterostrophus: A Dothideomycete Pathogen of Maize

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Genomics of Soil- and Plant-Associated Fungi

Part of the book series: Soil Biology ((SOILBIOL,volume 36))

Abstract

Cochliobolus heterostrophus is a foliar pathogen of maize, causing Southern Corn Leaf Blight. It is a necrotrophic pathogen that causes lesions on leaves and other aboveground organs of the plant. If the host is sensitive to the polyketide T-toxin produced by the pathogen, symptoms are severe, as manifested in major crop loss in the early 1970s. The genomes of several members of the genus have been sequenced and those of additional members of the class Dothideomycetes too. In this chapter, we review how C. heterostrophus has been studied as a model necrotroph, and what has been learned and can be learned in the future from the genome sequences. Among the subjects of detailed molecular genetic studies are signal transduction pathways, stress responses, and secondary metabolite production. Finally, we discuss this primarily aboveground pathogen in relation to soil biology.

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Acknowledgements

Research in our laboratories, including unpublished data shown in this chapter, was funded in part by USDA, BARD, and ISF. We thank Kent Loeffler (Cornell University) for superb photography and Maayan Duvshani-Eshet (Technion) for her assistance with confocal microscopy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, 32000, Israel

    Benjamin A. Horwitz

  2. Department of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Bradford J. Condon & B. Gillian Turgeon

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  1. Benjamin A. Horwitz
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  2. Bradford J. Condon
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  3. B. Gillian Turgeon
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Correspondence to Benjamin A. Horwitz .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dep. of Biology, Technion – Israel Inst. of Technology, Haifa, Israel

    Benjamin A. Horwitz

  2. Central Institute for Cotton Research, Nagpur, India

    Prasun K. Mukherjee

  3. Central Institute for Cotton Research, Nagpur, India

    Mala Mukherjee

  4. Institute of Chemical Engineering, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria

    Christian P. Kubicek

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Horwitz, B.A., Condon, B.J., Turgeon, B.G. (2013). Cochliobolus heterostrophus: A Dothideomycete Pathogen of Maize. In: Horwitz, B., Mukherjee, P., Mukherjee, M., Kubicek, C. (eds) Genomics of Soil- and Plant-Associated Fungi. Soil Biology, vol 36. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39339-6_9

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