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Microconidia: Understanding Its Role in the Fungus Magnaporthe oryzae Inciting Rice Blast Disease

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Blast Disease of Cereal Crops

Part of the book series: Fungal Biology ((FUNGBIO))

Abstract

Adaptation and survival are the key fundamentals for any microorganism. The rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae is not exceptional for that and it is the model pathogen for host-pathogen interaction studies. As of now, the macroconidia of this fungus and its pathogenesis, infection process and disease establishment have been studied extensively. Other than macroconidia, the fungus is also able to produce uninucleate microconidia under artificial media as well as inside the plant tissue. Microconidia can germinate and infect the wounded rice plants which lead to necrotic lesions. Apart from that, it also infects the particular stage of the host that is spikelet stage of barley and Brachypodium heads with wounding indicate that microconidia help in disease development at a particular stage of the host. Therefore, microconidia may play an important role in rice blast disease establishment especially for panicle blast development.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Plant Pathology, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India

    Ganesan Prakash, Asharani Patel, Ish Prakash, Kuleshwar Prasad Sahu & Aundy Kumar

  2. ICAR-Vivekananda Institute of Hill Agriculture, Almora, India

    Rajashekara Hosahatti

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  1. Ganesan Prakash
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  2. Asharani Patel
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  3. Ish Prakash
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  4. Kuleshwar Prasad Sahu
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  5. Rajashekara Hosahatti
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  6. Aundy Kumar
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Pearl Millet Pathology Laboratory DOS in Biotechnology, University of Mysore, Manasagangotri, Mysore, India

    S. Chandra Nayaka

  2. ICAR-VPKAS, Crop Protection Division, Almora, Uttarakhand, India

    Rajashekara Hosahatti

  3. Division of Plant Pathology, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India

    Ganesan Prakash

  4. ICAR-AICRP on Pearl Millet, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India

    C. Tara Satyavathi

  5. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru, Hyderabad, Telangana, India

    Rajan Sharma

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Prakash, G., Patel, A., Prakash, I., Sahu, K.P., Hosahatti, R., Kumar, A. (2021). Microconidia: Understanding Its Role in the Fungus Magnaporthe oryzae Inciting Rice Blast Disease. In: Nayaka, S.C., Hosahatti, R., Prakash, G., Satyavathi, C.T., Sharma, R. (eds) Blast Disease of Cereal Crops. Fungal Biology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60585-8_10

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