Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (2002) 15, 6-16

Mark L. Farman, Yukiko Eto, Tomomi Nakao, Yukio Tosa, Hitoshi Nakayashiki, Shigeyuki Mayama and Sally A. Leong (2002)
Analysis of the structure of the AVR1-CO39 avirulence locus in virulent rice-infecting isolates of Magnaporthe grisea
Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 15 (1), 6-16
Abstract: The AVR1-CO39 gene that came from a Magnaporthe grisea isolate from weeping lovegrass controls avirulence on the rice cultivar CO39. AVR1-CO39 was not present in the genome of the rice-infecting M. grisea isolate Guy11 from French Guyana, suggesting that the gene had been deleted. Molecular analysis of the deletion breakpoints in the AVR1-CO39 locus revealed the presence of a truncated copy of a previously unknown retrotransposon at the left-hand border. At the right-hand border was a truncated copy of another repetitive element that is present at multiple locations in the genome of Guy11. The structures of avr1-CO39 loci were further examined in 45 rice-infecting isolates collected in Brazil, China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Mali, and the Philippines. Most isolates showed no hybridization signal with the AVR1-CO39 probe and had the same locus structure as Guy11. Some isolates from Japan showed a signal with the AVR1-CO39 probe, but the region specifying avirulence activity was rearranged. These findings suggest that widespread virulence to 'CO39' among rice-infecting M. grisea isolates is due to ancestral rearrangements at the AVR1-CO39 locus that may have occurred early in the evolution of pathogenicity to rice.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Yukio Tosa, Hitoshi Nakayashiki

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
resistance/tolerance/defence of host
molecular biology - genes

---

Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Pyricularia oryzae		Mali
	Pyricularia oryzae	Rice (Oryza)	Indonesia
	Pyricularia oryzae	Rice (Oryza)	Japan
	Pyricularia oryzae	Rice (Oryza)	Philippines
	Pyricularia oryzae	Rice (Oryza)	India
	Pyricularia oryzae	Rice (Oryza)	French Guiana