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Understanding Ustilago maydis Infection of Multiple Maize Organs

Ustilago maydis is a smut fungus that infects all aerial maize organs, namely, seedling leaves, tassels, and ears. In all organs, tumors are formed by inducing hypertrophy and hyperplasia in actively dividing cells; however, the vast differences in cell types and developmental stages for different p...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ferris, Alex C, Walbot, Virginia
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7823922/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33375485
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jof7010008
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author Ferris, Alex C
Walbot, Virginia
author_facet Ferris, Alex C
Walbot, Virginia
author_sort Ferris, Alex C
collection PubMed
description Ustilago maydis is a smut fungus that infects all aerial maize organs, namely, seedling leaves, tassels, and ears. In all organs, tumors are formed by inducing hypertrophy and hyperplasia in actively dividing cells; however, the vast differences in cell types and developmental stages for different parts of the plant requires that U. maydis have both general and organ-specific strategies for infecting maize. In this review, we summarize how the maize–U. maydis interaction can be studied using mutant U. maydis strains to better understand how individual effectors contribute to this interaction, either through general or specific expression in a cell type, tissue, or organ. We also examine how male sterile maize mutants that do not support tumor formation can be used to explore key features of the maize anthers that are required for successful infection. Finally, we discuss key unanswered questions about the maize–U. maydis interaction and how new technologies can potentially be used to answer them.
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spelling pubmed-78239222021-01-24 Understanding Ustilago maydis Infection of Multiple Maize Organs Ferris, Alex C Walbot, Virginia J Fungi (Basel) Review Ustilago maydis is a smut fungus that infects all aerial maize organs, namely, seedling leaves, tassels, and ears. In all organs, tumors are formed by inducing hypertrophy and hyperplasia in actively dividing cells; however, the vast differences in cell types and developmental stages for different parts of the plant requires that U. maydis have both general and organ-specific strategies for infecting maize. In this review, we summarize how the maize–U. maydis interaction can be studied using mutant U. maydis strains to better understand how individual effectors contribute to this interaction, either through general or specific expression in a cell type, tissue, or organ. We also examine how male sterile maize mutants that do not support tumor formation can be used to explore key features of the maize anthers that are required for successful infection. Finally, we discuss key unanswered questions about the maize–U. maydis interaction and how new technologies can potentially be used to answer them. MDPI 2020-12-27 /pmc/articles/PMC7823922/ /pubmed/33375485 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jof7010008 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Ferris, Alex C
Walbot, Virginia
Understanding Ustilago maydis Infection of Multiple Maize Organs
title Understanding Ustilago maydis Infection of Multiple Maize Organs
title_full Understanding Ustilago maydis Infection of Multiple Maize Organs
title_fullStr Understanding Ustilago maydis Infection of Multiple Maize Organs
title_full_unstemmed Understanding Ustilago maydis Infection of Multiple Maize Organs
title_short Understanding Ustilago maydis Infection of Multiple Maize Organs
title_sort understanding ustilago maydis infection of multiple maize organs
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7823922/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33375485
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jof7010008
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