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AKA- Corn Smut
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Kingdom: Fungi
Phylum: Basidiomycota
Subphylum: Ustilaginomycotina
Class: Ustilaginomycetes
Order: Ustilaginales
Suborder: Ustilaginomycetidae
Family: Ustilaginaceae
Genus: Ustilago
Species: Ustilago maydis
General Information
Corn smut looks like tumor/galls that grow on the host tissues of corn. Within the galls are masses of dark mushroom-like teliospores.
The galls are found most frequently on ears, tassels, stalks, nodal shoots, and mid-ribs of leaves.
The fungi first show infection by discolored kernels. From there, the galls begin to develop growing in size and resembling a tumor-like growth on the exterior of the plant. As the galls grow the interior tissue becomes fleshy and streaks of black tissues occur as the spores begin to form.
This particular type of fungi completes its entire life cycle with a single host, meaning once the host dies, so does the corn smut.
fun Fact!
fun Fact!
Corn smut is considered an edible delicacy in central Mexican culture. Cuitlacoche.
Experiment
Objective:
Determine the gene/genes responsible for the virulent activity of the Ustilago Maydis.
Experiment:
Analyzed gene expression to pair down specific genes responsible for Corn Smut’s harmful growth on its hosts.
Conclusion:
Concluding the experiment, it was found that there are 12 clusters of genes which are responsible for producing the infected tissue of the Ustilago Maydis. Through the gene editing of these 12 clusters, the pathogenic effects of the fungi resulted in no symptoms presented in the host plant while in other trials the virulence of the fungi was exacerbated. It all depended on the number and specific gene clusters being deleted.
The hope with future research is that the specific genes responsible for the parasitic activity of Corn Smut can be specified and removed altogether from the genetic makeup to cease the detrimental impact it has on the maize industry.
Figure One shows the different images of the macro and micro aspects of the fungi and image two shows the developmental stages of Ustilago Maydis.
Resources
Kämper J, Kahmann R, Bölker M, Ma L-J, Brefort T, Saville BJ, Banuett F, Kronstad JW, Gold SE, Müller O, et al. 2006. Insights from the genome of the biotrophic fungal plant pathogen Ustilago maydis. Nature. 444(7115):97–101. doi:10.1038/nature05248. [accessed 2019 Dec 9]. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature05248.
Images:
https://observation.org/photos/42891802/
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ustilago_maydis_de_1.jpg
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