“Redox and rice blast: Exploring the metabolic strategies facilitating growth in rice cells by the blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae” will be presented by Richard A. Wilson, assistant professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at UNL on January 20 at 4:00 PM in N172 Beadle.

Blast is the most serious disease of cultivated rice and is mediated by the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. Once inside the host leaf, the fungus proliferates from cell-to-cell in a symptomless, biotrophic manner for the first 72 hours of infection before the onset of necrosis. What molecular mechanisms govern this early and critical biotrophic phase of fungal growth are largely unknown. In order to shed light on how fungal cells can thrive in living rice cells, we are thus focused on characterizing the metabolic strategies utilized by M. oryzae to drive biotrophy.