# How plants unwittingly help fungal pathogens

- Source: Phys.org
- Published: 2026-10-19T15:20:10+00:00
- Category: Science
- Original: https://phys.org/news/2026-10-unwittingly-fungal-pathogens.html
- Canonical: https://groundlevelnews.com/story/how-plants-unwittingly-help-fungal-pathogens-f795b9/

Infecting a maize plant is no simple task for a fungal pathogen such as Ustilago maydis. A group of researchers led by Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) has now uncovered how the fungus detects that it has successfully entered its host. This signal triggers changes in fungal growth, as the researchers report in Nature Communications.

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