Pyricularia or Magnaporthe? Names and genomes
N. ZHANG (1), J. Luo (1), G. Cai (1), D. Bhattacharya (1). (1) Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, U.S.A.
The family Magnaporthaceae contains devastating fungal cereal and grass pathogens, such as <i>Pyricularia</i> (<i>Magnaporthe</i>) <i>oryzae</i> (rice blast), <i>Magnaporthiopsis</i> (<i>Magnaporthe</i>) <i>poae</i> (summer patch), and <i>Gaeumannomyces graminis</i> (take-all). The type species of <i>Magnaporthe</i> is <i>Magnaporthe salvinii</i> (rice stem rot), which is not congeneric with <i>Magnaporthe</i> (<i>Pyricularia</i>) <i>oryzae</i> or <i>grisea</i>, based on phylogenetic analysis, morphology, and ecological characters. Therefore, a change of genus name is needed for the rice blast fungus. According to the new fungal nomenclature (Melbourne Code), the name for the rice blast fungus should be <i>Pyricularia oryzae</i>, while the name for the stem rot is <i>Nakataea oryzae</i>, because these are the older names. Another option is to conserve the genus <i>Magnaporthe</i> for the blast fungus. A poll is set at http://magnaporthe.blogspot.com/. A new genus, <i>Magnaporthiopsis</i> is proposed that includes <i>Magnaporthiopsis</i> (<i>Magnaporthe</i>) <i>poae</i>, <i>Magnaporthiopsis</i> (<i>Magnaporthe</i>) <i>rhizophila</i> and <i>Magnaporthiopsis</i> (<i>Gaeumannomyces</i>) <i>incrustans</i> based on phylogenetic analysis. In addition, we performed genome sequencing for 6 species in Magnaporthaceae: <i>Magnaporthiopsis rhizophila</i>, <i>Magnaporthiopsis incrustans</i>, <i>Harpophora maydis</i>, <i>Nakataea oryzae</i> (<i>Magnaporthe salvinii</i>), <i>Ophioceras dolichostomum</i>, and <i>Pseudohalonectria lignicola</i>, in order to conduct phylogenomic and comparative genome analyses for both pathogenic and non-pathogenic members of this family.
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