''Ustilago'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of approximately 200

smut fungi The smuts are multicellular fungus, fungi characterized by their large numbers of teliospores. The smuts get their name from a Germanic word for 'dirt' because of their dark, thick-walled, and dust-like teliospores. They are mostly Ustilaginomycet ...

, which are parasitic on

grasses Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in ...

. 170 species are accepted by Wijayawardene et al. 2020; After phylogenetic research certain species in ''Ustilago'', '' Macalpinomyces'', and other genera in the Ustilaginaceae clade have been moved to other genera such as '' Mycosarcoma''.

Uses

Ustilago maydis ''Ustilago'' is a genus of approximately 200 smut (fungus), smut fungi, which are parasitic on Poaceae, grasses. 170 species are accepted by Wijayawardene et al. 2020; After phylogenetic research certain species in ''Ustilago'', ''Macalpinomyces ...

'' is eaten as a traditional Mexican food in many parts of the country, and is even available canned. Farmers have even been known to spread the spores around on purpose to create more of the fungus. It is known in central Mexico by the

Nahuatl Nahuatl ( ; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahuas, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have smaller popul ...

name

huitlacoche Corn smut is a plant disease caused by the pathogenic fungus ''Mycosarcoma maydis'', synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Ustilago maydis''. One of several cereal crop pathogens called smut (fungus), smut, the fungus forms galls on all above-ground p ...

. Peasants in other parts of the country call it "hongo de maíz," i.e. "maize fungus." The

genome A genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding genes, other functional regions of the genome such as ...

of ''U. maydis'' has been sequenced in 2006.

Hosts

Some selected species and hosts; * '' Ustilago avenae'' (Pers.) Rostr. - loose smut of

oats The oat (''Avena sativa''), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural). Oats appear to have been domesticated as a secondary crop, as their seed ...

* '' U. brizae'' - on ''

Briza media ''Briza media'' is a perennial grass in the family Poaceae and is a species of the genus '' Briza''. Common name includes quaking-grass, common quaking grass, cow-quake, didder, dithering-grass, dodder-grass, doddering dillies, doddle-grass, ear ...

'' * '' U. bullata'' - brome smut * '' U. cynodontis'' - Bermuda grass smut * '' U. esculenta'' P. Henn. - ''

Zizania Wild rice, also called manoomin, mnomen, psíŋ, Canada rice, Indian rice, or water oats, is any of four species of Poaceae, grasses that form the genus ''Zizania'', and the grain that can be harvested from them. The grain was historically an ...

'' smut * '' U. hordei'' (Pers.) Lagerh. 1889 - covered smut (barley) * '' U. maydis'' (DC.) Corda -

corn smut Corn smut is a plant disease caused by the pathogenic fungus ''Mycosarcoma maydis'', synonym ''Ustilago maydis''. One of several cereal crop pathogens called smut, the fungus forms galls on all above-ground parts of corn species such as maize ...

* '' U. nuda'' (C.N. Jensen) Kellerm. & Swingle - loose smut of

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

* '' U. residua'' - on '' Danthonia californica'' * '' U. serpens'' * '' U. trichophora'' - on '' Echinochloa crus-galli'' and other ''

Echinochloa ''Echinochloa'' is a very widespread genus of plants in the grass family and tribe Paniceae. Some of the species are known by the common names barnyard grass or cockspur grass. Some of the species within this genus are millets that are grown ...

'' species * '' U. tritici'' C. Bauhin - loose smut of wheat

References

External links

*
Ustilago
' at

Index Fungorum ''Index Fungorum'' is an international project to index all formal names (scientific names) in the fungus kingdom. As of 2015, the project is based at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, one of three partners along with Landcare Research and th ...

Ustilaginomycotina Fungal plant pathogens and diseases Basidiomycota genera {{fungus-plant-disease-stub

Uses

Hosts

See also

References

External links