The pathogen that causes the disease, Mycosphaerella graminicola, has a long “silent period,” a latent stage during which it takes nutrition from the living plant and evades the host plant’s natural defenses. Scientists previously did not have a good understanding of how the organism infects wheat, or how the wheat plant itself resists the pathogen. Sequencing the genome of the pathogen could help answer these questions, among others.
Read more on Agricultural Research