The blast fungus Magnaporthe grisea causes a serious disease on a wide variety of grasses including rice, wheat, and barley. Rice blast is the most serious disease of cultivated rice and therefore poses a threat to the world's most important food security crop. Here, I review recent progress toward understanding the molecular biology of plant infection by M. grisea, which involves development of a specialized cell, the appressorium. This dome-shaped cell generates enormous turgor pressure and physical force, allowing the fungus to breach the host cuticle and invade plant tissue. The review also considers the role of avirulence genes in M. grisea and the mechanisms by which resistant rice cultivars are able to perceive the fungus and defend themselves. Finally, the likely mechanisms that promote genetic diversity in M. grisea and our current understanding of the population structure of the blast fungus are evaluated.

中文翻译：

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在谷物杀手的足迹上：探索稻瘟病的生物学。

稻瘟病菌Magnaporthe grisea在水稻，小麦和大麦等多种草类上引起严重的病害。稻瘟病是栽培稻中最严重的疾病，因此对世界上最重要的粮食安全作物构成威胁。在这里，我回顾了最近在了解稻瘟病菌对植物感染的分子生物学方面的进展，这涉及专门细胞的开发。这种圆顶形的细胞产生巨大的膨胀压力和物理力，使真菌能够破坏宿主的表皮并侵入植物组织。该综述还考虑了无毒力基因在稻瘟病菌中的作用以及抗性水稻品种能够感知真菌并保护自身的机制。最后，促进M.遗传多样性的可能机制。