MagnaGenes (v.1.0): an open science database of gene function studies in the blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae

We report the compilation of MagnaGenes , a database which summarises all the available studies reporting phenotypic data about gene function in the blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. MagnaGenes includes information for 1637 genes and allows them to be sorted by putative function. For example, those with a particular role, such as ‘conidiation’ can be defined and grouped together. Magnagenes also contains clickable hyperlinks to the associated primary literature and to gene information held in the Ensembl and Uniprot databases. Magnagenes highlights some of the strengths and weaknesses in the Magnaporthe research community’s effort to understand the genetic basis of the ability of M. oryzae to cause blast disease. It can serve as a guide to the understudied aspects of the blast fungus biology. We provide Magnagenes to the community as part of the OpenRiceBlast and Open WheatBlast initiatives. We aim to release regular updates to Magnagenes and welcome additions or corrections from the blast research community to expand the database.