Sorghum is a genus of plants in the grass family. Most species are native to Australia, with some
extending to Africa, Asia, Mesoamerica, and certain islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
One species is grown for grain, while many others are used as fodder plants, either intentionally cultivated or allowed to grow naturally, in pasture lands. The plants are cultivated in warm climates worldwide and naturalized in many places. Sorghum is in the subfamily Panicoideae and the tribe Andropogoneae (the tribe of big bluestem and sugarcane).
Pseudomonas syringae is a rod-shaped, Gram-negative bacterium with polar flagella. As a plant pathogen, it can infect a wide range of species, and exists as over 50 different pathovars, all of which are available to researchers from international culture collections such as the NCPPB, ICMP, and others. It is unclear whether these pathovars represent a single species.
Burkholderia andropogonis is a soil bacterium that can cause leaf, bud and stem spotting on carnation although it is not a disease of great economical significance.
Acremonium strictum is an environmentally widespread saprotroph species found in soil, plant debris, and rotting mushrooms.Isolates have been collected in North and Central America, Asia, Europe and Egypt. A. strictum is an agent of hyalohyphomycosis and has been identified as an increasingly frequent human pathogen in immunosuppressed individuals, causing localized, disseminated and invasive infections.Although extremely rare, A. strictum can infect immunocompetent individuals, as well as neonates. Due to the growing number of infections caused by A. strictum in the past few years, the need for new medical techniques in the identification of the fungus as well as for the treatment of human infections has risen considerably.
Glomerella graminicola (anamorphic) Colletotrichum graminicola) is a fungus in the teleomorphic phase whose anamorphic phase, Colletotrichum graminicola, causes anthracnose in many cereal species including maize and wheat. Corn is affected in large numbers in the United States by this fungus, especially certain varieties that have been genetically engineered. These engineered varieties are more susceptible to the teleomorph phase of the fungus. It is not until the fungus moves to the teleomorph phase of the lifecycle and begins to produce fruiting bodies that host plants will begin to exhibit symptoms, often on plants depleted in energy after the stress of pollination.
