In the corn smut pathogen, Ustilago maydis, meiosis and teliospore germination are temporally linked. We review teliospore dormancy and germination in U. maydis and present an overview of meiosis in basidiomycetes. The relevant available expressed sequence tag data is discussed, the databases used in reciprocal best hit blastp analysis are presented and potential U. maydis meiosis genes are identified. The implications of identifying these genes are discussed and hypotheses are presented regarding the control of meiosis in U. maydis.