Working with the genome of a corn parasite
2006/12/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria
Ustilago maydis is a parasite fungus that grows in the dunes. In fact, it receives the food it needs from corn, and it needs to reproduce.
In order to better know this parasite, they have sequenced the genome and found several groups of genes that encode proteins without known functions. Specifically, twelve groups of genes. And seven of these groups of genes are considered associated with the parasite process.
It seems that the genome of this parasite hardly resembles the genomes of other parasites, such as those that use toxins or enzymes, so researchers believe that it uses a very different strategy to infect corn.
