Rice Blast Fungus

Magnaporthe grisea, also known as rice blast fungus among other names, is a plant-pathogenic fungus and model organism that causes a serious disease affecting rice. The species is now understood to be a cryptic species complex containing at least two genetically distinct, non-interbreeding lineages: members isolated from Digitaria are now defined more narrowly as Magnaporthe grisea, while those isolated from rice and other hosts have been renamed Magnaporthe oryzae, though which of the two names properly belongs to the rice pathogen remains disputed among researchers.