Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 19, 2026

Author Spotlight: Investigating Fungal Pathogenicity Mechanisms in Maize
Published on: September 15, 2023
Role of Alternate Hosts in Epidemiology and Pathogen Variation of Cereal Rusts
Jie Zhao1, Meinan Wang2, Xianming Chen3
1State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology for Arid Areas and College of Plant Protection, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China;
Abstract:
Cereal rusts, caused by obligate and biotrophic fungi in the genus Puccinia, are important diseases that threaten world food security. With the recent discovery of alternate hosts for the stripe rust fungus (Puccinia striiformis), all cereal rust fungi are now known to be heteroecious, requiring two distinct plant species serving as primary or alternate hosts to complete their sexual life cycle. The roles of the alternate hosts in disease epidemiology and pathogen variation vary greatly from species to species and from region to region because of different climatic and cropping conditions. We focus this review on rust fungi of small grains, mainly stripe rust, stem rust, leaf rust, and crown rust of wheat, barley, oat, rye, and triticale, with emphases on the contributions of alternate hosts to the development and management of rust diseases.
More Related Videos
07:36Visualizing Early Infection Sites of Rice Blast Disease Magnaporthe oryzae on Barley Hordeum vulgare Using a Basic Microscope and a Smartphone
Published on: March 17, 2023
11:48A Contrast of Three Inoculation Techniques used to Determine the Race of Unknown Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. niveum Isolates
Published on: October 28, 2021
Related Concept Videos
Fungal Group Zygomycota
Microbe-Plant Interactions
The Roles of Bacteria and Fungi in Plant Nutrition
Gene Flow
Diversity of Protists II
Colonisation of Pathogens