A monograph for rice blast fungus and allies is being built--https://magnaporthales.sebs.rutgers.edu/

This e-monograph website of Magnaporthales (https://magnaporthales.sebs.rutgers.edu/) is created and released via Rutgers University. Currently there are three families (Magnaporthaceae, Pyriculariaceae, and Ophioceraceae) in Magnaporthales. All accepted species names are included under each family. On the basis of literature and specimen examination, species description, diagnostic illustration, type designation, host range, geographical distribution, and literature are provided for representative taxa, especially the type species for each genus. Genbank sequence accession numbers of eight genes including ITS, 18S, 28S, ACT, CAL, MCM7, RPB1, and TEF1 also are provided in the e-monograph. Genomic sequences of 24 representative taxa are hyperlinked to the genome databases in FunGI and the Broad Institute. Four dichotomous keys to three families and 32 genera, and keys to species of three genera are provided. The Magnaporthales  e-monograph provides free access on updated taxonomic, biogeography and molecular data to researchers and the broader user communities worldwide, and aims to facilitate the future work on systematics, biodiversity, evolution, genetics, plant protection and quarantine. (posted by Ning Zhang, March 25, 2019)

Symposium Program - "Comparative genomic approaches to understanding the evolution of Magnaporthales"

Comparative genomic approaches to understanding the evolution of Magnaporthales *

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to a symposium convened by Drs. Ning Zhang and Debashish Bhattacharya entitled “Comparative genomic approaches to understanding the evolution of Magnaporthales” that is supported by the National science Foundation, Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, and the Rutgers Center for Turfgrass Science.  Magnaporthales is a fungal order that includes the rice blast fungus (important plant pathogen and model system for plant-fungal interaction study), summer patch pathogen of turfgrass, take-all pathogen of cereals, as well as saprotrophs. The speakers will talk about their recent progress on the comparative genomics, population genomics, phylogenetics, effector genes, horizontal gene transfer studies etc. We plan to hold the meeting at the Rutgers University Inn on January 7th, 2016. 

Regards,

Ning Zhang and Debashish Bhattacharya

Workshop Jan 6 - 8th 2016 - “Comparative genomic approaches to understanding the evolution of Magnaporthales”

Drs. Ning Zhang and Debashish Bhattacharya will host a workshop at Rutgers University,

 January 6 – 8, 2016 entitled 

“Comparative genomic approaches to understanding the evolution of Magnaporthales” 

Supported by the National Science Foundation and Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, this workshop will focus on improving the annotation of draft genomes of 5 fungal species in the order Magnaporthales (the rice stem rot fungus Nakataea oryzae = Magnaporthe salvinii; grass root-infecting Magnaporthiopsis rhizophila and Magnaporthiopsis incrustans; and saprotrophic, aquatic Ophioceras dolichostomum and Pseudohalonectria lignicola) coupled with a comparative analysis with the rice blast fungus and other pathogens in Magnaporthales.  In addition, we sequenced the transcriptomes of 21 taxa in the Magnaporthales (details in Luo et al. 2015. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS | 5 : 9448 | DOI: 10.1038/srep09448).  

The main goals of the workshop are to understand the evolution of pathogenicity, life style adaptation, and the evolution and putative functions of membrane associated proteins and transporters etc. This working group has the potential to make substantial discoveries using a genome wide approach.  The event will include BLAST and KEGG analysis to improve the gene models and to provide putative annotations for genes encoded in currently un-characterized regions of the genome, analysis of the functional categories listed above, short talks (15-20 min. each), and a final day to summarize and set future actions and timelines. We envision at least one major manuscript will be generated from the effort with all participants as co-authors, and concepts for other manuscripts and databases to be developed and shared during the workshop.  

Further Information to Follow

Statistics

Hi All-

The discussion on the rice blast fungus name continues but voting closed on September 30 (yesterday).  I post the statistics below for your information. 

Dear Marc Henri,

Please forward this message to J-L Nottéghem-

We all agree that widely used names should not be changed before careful evaluation and thorough discussion, and that is why we are here discussing this issue in the past several months. 

The reason that Magnaporthe is not the right generic name for the rice blast fungus is not because of the new nomenclature, but because recent analysis based on DNA sequences, morphological, and ecological characters all  indicate that the rice blast fungus is different from the true Magnaporthe--the rice stem rot fungus (M. salvinii).  Unless we conserve Magnaporthe for the rice blast fungus, a name change is needed.

Regarding the change of fungal nomenclature-