Magnaporthe and Rice Gene Expression Microarrays

Magnaporthe grisea is the cause of rice blast, the most devastating disease of rice worldwide. This fungal pathogen is highly tractable and serves as model to study plant disease. The microarray contains probes targeting 15,170 predicted Magnaporthe genes, and 6,325 rice probes designed after ESTs of rice genes.The Magnaporthe (V2) microarray is the first of its kind, allowing analysis of gene expression profiles in both the host and pathogen simultaneously. Research conducted using this ‘interactions’ chip will facilitate enhanced management of fungal pathogens and the improvement of disease resistant rice.