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

麦氏黑穗病菌是玉米瘿形成和随后的“玉米黑穗病”的病原体，是研究真菌植物病原体的主要模型，这些真菌植物病原体共同造成每年巨大的市场食品和纤维损失。该项目将于2017年3月在加利福尼亚州的Asilomar组织第一次美国赞助的Ustilago maydis会议。尽管这不是第一次将Ustilago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，但这将是第一次在美国。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，以支付参加会议的人员的旅费。随着世界经济和墨西哥比索的低迷，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上会面，例如真菌遗传学会议。国际黑穗病菌会议将于2017年3月13日至14日在Asilomar举行，就在下一次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在真菌会议上有代表，并且在几天前参加这个特别会议不会有什么困难。另一方面，墨西哥调查人员将需要财政援助才能参加这次会议。这笔资助的主要目的是支持其他代表性不足的研究人员参加会议：来自墨西哥和美国实验室的学生人数大致相等，特别是在美国学生缺乏资金参加会议的地方。这将提供这两个群体之间的文化交流，以及与Ustilago研究社区的其他成员的文化交流。更广泛的影响包括为扩大未来的研究社区提供一个模板，以包括其他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展示；会议还将提供关于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是真菌交配型调控、二态性（形态发生）和生物营养发病机制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，因为确定的马迪鱼的性周期允许经典的遗传实验和一流的分子遗传工具（例如，转化，基因破坏/替代，蛋白质标记，功能基因组学/转录组学）。为了扩展这种技术基础设施并促进其使用，需要持续的研究界发展和智力投入。本次会议将招收墨西哥和西班牙的学生和博士后研究人员参加。对Ustilago和相关系统产生新兴趣的另一个来源是美国的实验室，其学员来自代表性不足的群体。这些类型的学生也将被招募。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.