Meeting: First US-Sponsored Ustilago maydis Conference, Asilomar, California, March 13-14, 2017

玉米黑粉菌（Ustilago maydis）是玉米上的虫瘿形成和随后的“玉米黑穗病”的病原体，并且是研究真菌植物病原体的主要模型，真菌植物病原体共同造成每年巨大的可销售食物和纤维损失。该项目将于2017年3月在加利福尼亚州阿西洛马举办第一届美国赞助的玉米黑粉菌会议。虽然这不是第一次将黑粉菌社区的研究人员聚集在一起展示他们最重要的研究并协调社区努力的国际会议，但这将是美国的第一次。研究这种模式植物病原体的最大研究中心位于德国和墨西哥。以前的会议都是在这些地点举行的，每个东道国都提供支助，支付与会者的旅费。随着世界经济和墨西哥比索的衰退，会议组织者自2010年以来一直无法继续这一进程。特别是，墨西哥（和一些西班牙）的研究人员一直无法参加他们国家以外的会议，即使组织者试图在其他成熟的会议，如真菌遗传学会议。国际黑粉菌会议将于2017年3月13日至14日举行，就在下一届真菌遗传学会议之前。来自德国、加拿大和美国的一些团体很容易参加真菌会议，几天前参加这个特别会议也不会有什么困难。另一方面，墨西哥调查人员需要财政援助才能出席这次会议。该补助金的主要目的是支持代表性不足的研究人员出席会议：来自墨西哥和美国实验室的学生人数大致相等，特别是美国学生缺乏资金参加的情况。这将提供这两个群体之间的文化交流，以及与Ustilago研究社区的其他部分。更广泛的影响包括为扩大未来的研究社区提供一个模板，以包括否则代表性不足的学生群体。重点将集中在选择支持的学生/博士后进行口头和海报演示;会议还将提供对其他国家实验室访问机会的指导，以及当前博士生未来的博士后选择，以及从博士后到永久职位的过渡。这也将在Ustilago会议期间的指导午餐会上明确公布。maydis是真菌交配型调节、二型性（形态发生）和活体营养致病机理的分子研究的成熟模型。这些生物和农业领域的兴趣可以通过实验来解决，因为美国的性周期定义。Maydis允许经典的遗传实验和极好的分子遗传工具（例如，转化、基因破坏/置换、蛋白质标记、功能基因组学/转录组学）。为了扩大这一技术基础设施并促进其使用，需要继续进行研究、社区发展和智力投入。墨西哥和西班牙的学生和博士后研究人员将被招募参加会议。对黑粉菌和相关系统产生新兴趣的另一个水库是美国的实验室，这些实验室的学员来自代表性不足的群体。这类学生也将被录取。如果我们要为这个重要的模型系统培养下一代研究人员，这一点很重要。

Ustilago maydis is the causative agent of gall formation and subsequent "corn smut disease" on maize and is the leading model for studying the fungal plant pathogens that collectively are responsible for huge annual losses of marketable food and fiber. The project will organize the first US-sponsored Ustilago maydis conference for March, 2017, at Asilomar, CA. Though this would not be the first international meeting that brings together researchers in the Ustilago community to present their foremost research and to coordinate efforts of the community, it would be the first in the United States. The largest research centers for work with this model plant pathogen are located in Germany and in Mexico. Previous meetings have occurred in those locations, with each host country providing support to defray costs for those traveling to the meetings. With downturns in the world economy and the Mexican peso, meeting organizers have been unable to continue this process since 2010. Especially, Mexican (and some Spanish) researchers have been unable to attend meetings outside their country, even when organizers have attempted to meet at other well-established meetings, such as the Fungal Genetics Meetings. The International Ustilago conference will take place March 13-14, 2017, just prior to the next Fungal Genetics Meetings at Asilomar. The groups from Germany, Canada, and some in the US, are easily represented at the Fungal meeting and would have little difficulty attending this special conference a few days prior. On the other hand, the Mexican investigators would require financial assistance to attend this meeting. The main purpose of the grant will be to support attendance of otherwise under-represented researchers to the meeting: approximately equal numbers of students from Mexico and labs in the US, especially where the US students lack funds to attend. This will provide cultural interchange between these two groups, as well as with the rest of the Ustilago research community. Broader impacts include providing a template for expanding the future research community to include otherwise under-represented groups of students. Emphasis will focus on selection of supported students/post-docs for oral and poster presentations; the meeting will also provide mentoring on opportunities for lab visits in other countries, as well as future post-doctoral options for current PhD students, and transitions from post-doctoral to permanent positions. This will also be explicitly promulgated at a mentoring lunch during the Ustilago Conference.U. maydis is a well-established model for molecular studies of fungal mating-type regulation, dimorphism (morphogenesis) and biotrophic pathogenesis. These areas of biological and agricultural interest can be experimentally addressed because the defined sexual cycle of U. maydis allows classical genetic experimentation and superb molecular genetic tools (e.g., transformation, gene disruption/replacement, protein tagging, functional genomics/transcriptomics) are available. To extend this technical infrastructure and facilitate its use, continued research community development and intellectual inputs are required. Mexican and Spanish students and post-doctoral researchers will be recruited to the meeting. An added reservoir for new interest in the Ustilago and related systems are labs in the US with trainees from under-represented groups. These types of students will also be recruited. This is important if we are to produce the next generation of researchers for this important model system.