Pythium irregulare is highly pathogenic to a wide range of cereal and legume hosts, causing significant loss in yield and vigor.It is a soilborne pathogen found world wide on ~200 hosts. Like most members of the Pythium species, it causes damping off (i.e. blight) and root rot of plants located in both greenhouses and the field especially under moist conditions that favor the spread of this pathogen through zoospores. While P. irregulare can be isolated by itself from a host, it is often found in conjunction with another Pythium species.

It belongs to the group oomycetes which was originally classified among the fungi, due to its morphological and functional similarities. They are now classifed as protists based on modern insights on phylogentic relationship with photosynthetic organisms such as brown algae and diatoms.

Browse this genome in the Ensembl Genomes website.