Sabarinathan Selvaraj

1 Introduction Global population growth, climate change, and environmental degradation are placing unprecedented pressure on food production, while consumers increasingly demand safe, high-quality food. The filamentous ascomycete Magnaporthe oryzae (syn. Pyricularia oryzae) poses a major threat to global food security by causing blast disease in rice, millets, and, more recently, wheat. This pathogen is responsible for an estimated 10%–30% loss in global rice yields (Nalley et al. 2016).