Inside the world of infection

 Fungal pathogens manage to simultaneously pacify their plant victim’s defenses whilst seizing host nutrition, creating a very difficult situation for any plant that becomes infected. Here you can see three different stages of the fungal hyphae of Magnaporthe grisea invading and taking-over a plant cell. Top panel: After 48h of infection Middle panel: After 72h of infection Bottom panel: After 96h of infection Rice blast disease, which is caused by M.grisea, is one of the greatest pathogen threats to rice crops globally and since rice is an important food source its impact can be devastating. Scientists from the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences at Aberystwth University, which is strategically funded by BBSRC, are studying the mechanisms behind fungal pathogen infection eventually hoping to reduce this major threat to modern agriculture. Image from Mr Hassan Zubair from IBERS, Aberystwyth University 

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