Researchers supply significant genomic insight into tar spot on corn

First reported in 2015, tar spot is an emerging disease on corn that has rapidly spread across the United States and Canada, causing tremendous yield loss estimated at $1.2 billion in 2021 alone. Tar spot gets its name from its iconic symptoms that resemble the splatter of "tar" on corn leaves, but these spots are in fact brown lesions formed by the fungal pathogen Phyllachora maydis.