Cross‐species analysis between the maize smut fungi Ustilago maydis and Sporisorium reilianum highlights the role of transcriptional change of effector orthologs for virulence and disease

What is it about?

The closely related smut fungi Ustilago maydis and Sporisorium reilianum infect maize plants, but cause distinct disease symptoms. Cross-species transcriptome analysis in combination with CRISPR-Cas9 mediated gene conversion experiments in U. maydis revealed that diversification of virulence-related effector genes is caused both by transcriptional plasticity, as well as through functional diversification.

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