[23] Rice blast is a significant problem in temperate regions and can be found in areas such as irrigated lowland and upland.

[24] Conditions conducive for rice blast include long periods of free moisture and/or high humidity, because leaf wetness is required for infection.

[15] In terms of control, excessive use of nitrogen fertilization as well as drought stress increase rice susceptibility to the pathogen as the plant is placed in a weakened state and its defenses are low.

[27][28] Transcriptome analysis showed this to be an M. grisea lineage most likely from Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Brasília, and Goiás states of Brazil and not from any geographically proximate strains.

[27][28] This successful diagnosis shows the ability of genetic surveillance to untangle the novel biosecurity implications of transcontinental transportation[27][28] and allows the Brazilian experience to be rapidly applied to the Bangladeshi situation.

[15] Knowledge of the pathogenicity of M. grisea and its need for free moisture suggest other control strategies such as regulated irrigation and a combination of chemical treatments with different modes of action.

[15] Managing the amount of water supplied to the crops limits spore mobility thus dampening the opportunity for infection.

Chemical controls such as Carpropamid have been shown to prevent penetration of the appressoria into rice epidermal cells, leaving the grain unaffected.

[29] Papajani et al. 2015 finds the essential oils of both Origanum vulgare and Rosmarinus officinalis to be effective in vitro, and provides treatment thresholds.

[12]: 45  The big advantages of the Thierry markers are that they do not miss isolates lacking the Mot3 sequence, for example BR0032, and its great sensitivity.

[32] Three strains, albino (defined by a mutation at the ALB1 locus), buff (BUF1), and rosy (RSY1), have been extensively studied because they are nonpathogenic.

[13] A mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) called pmk1 is genetically close to one necessary for mating and cell morphology in yeasts, FUS3/KSS1.

[13] The transaminase alanine: glyoxylate aminotransferase 1 (AGT1) has been shown to be crucial to the pathogenicity of M. grisea through its maintenance of redox homeostasis in peroxisomes.

Lipids transported to the appressoria during host penetration are degraded within a large central vacuole, a process that produces fatty acids.

β-Oxidation of fatty acids is an energy producing process that generates Acetyl-CoA and the reduced molecules FADH2 and NADH, which must be oxidized in order to maintain redox homeostasis in appressoria.

[34] M. grisea mutants lacking the AGT1 gene were observed to be nonpathogenic through their inability to penetrate host surface membranes.

[36] The rice plant responds to the blast pathogen by releasing jasmonic acid, which cascades into the activation of further downstream metabolic pathways which produce the defense response.

[38] Some rice cultivars carry resistance alleles of the OsSWEET13 gene, which produces the molecular target of the X. oryzae pv.