Welcome to Ascus!

This is the main development server for RiceGenes and RiceBlastDB, the genome databases for rice (Oryza sativa) and rice blast (Magnaporthe grisea), respectively. These databases are part of the USDA-ARS Genome Database Resource (GDR).

What's an ascus?

The rice blast disease is caused by a fungus, Magnaporthe grisea, a member of division (phylum) Ascomycota. As a result of sexual reproduction, ascomycetes produce a sac-like structure called an ascus. Karyogamy and meiosis occur within the ascus, generally followed by a round of mitosis. This results in eight haploid ascospores, capable of surviving adverse environments. Given the right conditions, these ascospores will germinate, producing new individuals.

About this server

This system is a Dell Dimension XPS R400 running Debian GNU/Linux. It has 256MB RAM and more than 30GB of hard disk space. On-line documentation for this system is available that includes man pages, info pages, and the Linux HOWTOs.

About these web pages

I write all my code using XEmacs. I have tried to follow the HTML 4.0 standard, while still allowing older browsers to usefully render the content. Cascading style sheets are not well-supported in the current generation of web browsers (but I have high hopes for Mozilla), so I have limited my use of styles to those that give reasonably similar results using Netscape Communicator 4.5 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0. Aside from these two browsers, I also use Netscape Navigator Gold 3.01 and Lynx for testing.