Thorsten Langner

The paper investigates the evolution of APikL virulence effectors in the blast fungus by combining ancestral reconstruction and functional assays, finding that only one substitution expanded host binding while others were deleterious.

The paper identifies horizontal mini-chromosome transfers in clonal blast fungus lineages, showing genetic exchange between host-associated isolates.

This study evaluates how SNP calling parameters affect population genetic analyses in the rice blast fungus, finding minimal impact on key evolutionary inferences despite variations in SNP counts.

The paper identifies and analyzes hypervariable mini-chromosomes in Magnaporthe oryzae isolates from different grass hosts, showing their role in genomic rearrangements and potential adaptive evolution.