www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

A German-led international group of researchers has identified the genes
that enable the maize smut pathogen to live as a parasite, November 2006.

Led by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial
Microbiology in Marburg, Germany, the scientists have analyzed the U. maydis
genome. Among the 7,000 genes of the fungus, they have found some with which
the fungus lives at the expense of its host plant -- without killing it.

Those genes, say the team of nearly 80 scientists from around the world,
probably also help the fungus to circumvent the plant's defenses.
Researchers are now hoping to apply their findings to other fungi, which
like Ustilago maydis depend on living plants.

[www.sciencedaily.com]

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