Subtelomere organization, evolution, and dynamics in the rice blast fungus magnaporthe oryzae

Magnaporthe oryzae is a filamentous, ascomycete fungus best known as the causal agent of a devastating disease of rice known as blast. In addition to being a pathogen of rice, it also causes diseases on other important crops, including wheat, millets, and forage grasses, and on turf grasses such as perennial ryegrass and St. Augustinegrass. Despite the species’ broad host range, fungal isolates from one host genus usually are unable to infect other host genera. Such specificity can also be manifested at the subspecies level, such that an isolate from one rice cultivar is often unable to infect other cultivars.