Fusarium head blight (FHB) is one of the most severe fungal disease of wheat worldwide, caused mainly by the fungus Fusarium graminearum. FHB causes yield reduction and contamination of grains with mycotoxins, particularly deoxynivalenol (DON). DON is a protein synthesis inhibitor, it acts as a virulence factor during pathogenesis and it is essential for the spread in the spike. One of the mechanisms involved in enhancing plant tolerance to DON is the conversion to deoxynivalenol3-β-D-glucoside (D3G) by the activity of specific UDP-glucosyl transferases (UGTs), often followed by compartmentation of the product. Previous studies demonstrated that the expression of the gene HvUGT13248 from barley confers resistance to DON in Arabidopsis thaliana (Shin et al. 2012) and type II resistance to FHB in bread wheat (Li et al. 2015). Since sources of FHB resistance in durum wheat are lacking, we wanted to verify whether the expression of the HvUGT13248 could improve FHB resistance also in durum wheat. We produced transgenic lines of Trititum durum cv. Svevo constitutively expressing the HvUGT13248 gene. After confirming the presence of the transcript and the protein, we infected transgenic wheat plants with F. gramineramum to assess FHB severity, DON content and D3G conversion compared to the wild type plants. Our results showed that this approach was also effective in durum wheat since a significant reduction of FHB symptoms (≈30%; p<0.01), as compared to control plants, was observed from 6 dpi up to 12 dpi. In the late stages of infection, the reduction of FHB symptoms was less evident as compared to control plants. This last result differed from what observed in the transgenic bread wheat plants expressing the same UGT gene where FHB severity never exceeded 20% at 21 dpi (Li et al. 2015).To verify the effectiveness of this approach we are also assaying other pathogens able to produce DON such as F. culmorum and F. pseudograminearum, main causal agents of Fusarium crown rot disease in wheat.
The expression of the DON-detoxifying barley UDP-glycosil transferase HvUGT13248 enhances resistance to Fusarium head blight disease in durum wheat
Silvio Tundo;
2017
Abstract
Fusarium head blight (FHB) is one of the most severe fungal disease of wheat worldwide, caused mainly by the fungus Fusarium graminearum. FHB causes yield reduction and contamination of grains with mycotoxins, particularly deoxynivalenol (DON). DON is a protein synthesis inhibitor, it acts as a virulence factor during pathogenesis and it is essential for the spread in the spike. One of the mechanisms involved in enhancing plant tolerance to DON is the conversion to deoxynivalenol3-β-D-glucoside (D3G) by the activity of specific UDP-glucosyl transferases (UGTs), often followed by compartmentation of the product. Previous studies demonstrated that the expression of the gene HvUGT13248 from barley confers resistance to DON in Arabidopsis thaliana (Shin et al. 2012) and type II resistance to FHB in bread wheat (Li et al. 2015). Since sources of FHB resistance in durum wheat are lacking, we wanted to verify whether the expression of the HvUGT13248 could improve FHB resistance also in durum wheat. We produced transgenic lines of Trititum durum cv. Svevo constitutively expressing the HvUGT13248 gene. After confirming the presence of the transcript and the protein, we infected transgenic wheat plants with F. gramineramum to assess FHB severity, DON content and D3G conversion compared to the wild type plants. Our results showed that this approach was also effective in durum wheat since a significant reduction of FHB symptoms (≈30%; p<0.01), as compared to control plants, was observed from 6 dpi up to 12 dpi. In the late stages of infection, the reduction of FHB symptoms was less evident as compared to control plants. This last result differed from what observed in the transgenic bread wheat plants expressing the same UGT gene where FHB severity never exceeded 20% at 21 dpi (Li et al. 2015).To verify the effectiveness of this approach we are also assaying other pathogens able to produce DON such as F. culmorum and F. pseudograminearum, main causal agents of Fusarium crown rot disease in wheat.Pubblicazioni consigliate
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