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Updated: Jun 16, 2025

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Genetic Manipulation of the Plant Pathogen Ustilago maydis to Study Fungal Biology and Plant Microbe Interactions
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Decoding fungal pathogenicity: Recombinant hybrids unveil secrets in smut fungi
Qianqian Zhang1, Mingliang Xu1
1State Key Laboratory of Plant Environmental Resilience/College of Agronomy and Biotechnology/National Maize Improvement Center/Center for Crop Functional Genomics and Molecular Breeding, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, P.R. China.
Cell Reports
|June 14, 2025
Abstract:
A groundbreaking study by Werner et al. illuminates the genetic and regulatory factors driving distinct disease outcomes by engineering an interspecific hybrid of two maize smut fungi. This innovative approach opens new avenues for understanding fungal evolution and plant-pathogen interactions.

