Fungal gene expression during pathogenesis-related development and host plant colonization

To successfully infect plants, pathogenic fungi must recognize and communic ate with their host during different stages of the disease cycle. In past y ears, techniques such as insertional mutagenesis, sensitive GFP-based repor ter systems and microarray techniques have been developed to analyze these processes at the molecular level, and now novel insights into this fascinat ing aspect of pathogen-plant communication are beginning to emerge. This is exemplified by a number of pathogenicity genes functioning in distinct sta ges of pathogenic development in Magnaporthe grisea.