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Research Project: Genetics of Disease Resistance and Food Quality Traits in Corn

Location: Plant Science Research

Title: Genetics of maize microbe interactions

Author
item Balint-Kurti, Peter
item WANG, GUAN-FENG - Shandong University

Submitted to: Molecular Plant Pathology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/17/2023
Publication Date: 7/1/2023
Citation: Balint Kurti, P.J., Wang, G. 2023. Genetics of maize microbe interactions. Molecular Plant Pathology. 24(7):671-674. https://doi.org/10.1111/mpp.13348.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/mpp.13348

Interpretive Summary: This article serves as an introduction to a special issue on the Genetics of Maize Microbe interactions. The issue includes 11 papers covering various subjects in this field. Papers covering a diverse and representative area of research in the field are presented, including studies on maize-associated fungi, bacteria and viruses as well as the maize seed microbiome. The history of the field is discussed and each paper is briefly summarized.

Technical Abstract: Maize (Zea mays L.) is an annual grass belonging to the tribe Andropogoneae of the family Gramineae. Its high productivity and adaptability have resulted in it being the world’s most produced crop (Erenstein et al., 2022). Global yield loss of maize caused by pathogens and pests was estimated to 19.5-41.1% (Savary et al., 2019). In the US, losses due to diseases were estimated at ~7-10% over recent years (Mueller et al., 2020). The investigation of maize-microbe interactions therefore would seem to be a crucial area of study and it is the subject of this special issue. In this special issue we demonstrate that this resurgence in interest in the molecular genetics of maize-microbe interactions continues apace. We present papers covering a diverse and representative area of research in the field, including studies on maize-associated fungi, bacteria and viruses as well as the maize seed microbiome. These papers cover established and emerging viral tools for functional genomics in maize, a genomic study of maize resistance genes as well as the identification and detailed characterization of maize genes involved in pathogen resistance and microbial genes involved in pathogenicity.