UCD Earth Institute, UCD Institute of Food and Health and UCD School of Biology and Environmental Sciences, UCD Science Centre East, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, Ireland.
PLoS One. 2021 Oct 14;16(10):e0258726. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258726. eCollection 2021.
Fusarium head blight (FHB) is an economically important disease of wheat that results in yield loss and grain contaminated with fungal mycotoxins that are harmful to human and animal health. Herein we characterised two wheat genes involved in the FHB response in wheat: a wheat mitochondrial phosphate transporter (TaMPT) and a methyltransferase (TaSAM). Wheat has three sub-genomes (A, B, and D) and gene expression studies demonstrated that TaMPT and TaSAM homoeologs were differentially expressed in response to FHB infection and the mycotoxigenic Fusarium virulence factor deoxynivalenol (DON) in FHB resistant wheat cv. CM82036 and susceptible cv. Remus. Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) of either TaMPT or TaSAM enhanced the susceptibility of cv. CM82036 to FHB disease, reducing disease spread (Type II disease resistance). VIGS of TaMPT and TaSAM significantly reduced grain number and grain weight. This indicates TaSAM and TaMPT genes also contribute to grain development in wheat and adds to the increasing body of evidence linking FHB resistance genes to grain development. Hence, Fusarium responsive genes TaSAM and TaMPT warrant further study to determine their potential to enhance both disease resistance and grain development in wheat.
镰刀菌穗腐病（FHB）是一种严重影响小麦产量和品质的病害，由镰刀菌侵染引起，可导致小麦减产和麦粒被真菌毒素污染，严重危害人畜健康。本研究对小麦中两个与 FHB 响应相关的基因 TaMPT（线粒体磷酸转运蛋白）和 TaSAM（甲基转移酶）进行了功能分析。小麦具有 A、B、D 三个亚基因组，基因表达分析表明，TaMPT 和 TaSAM 在家麦 82036（抗穗腐病品种）和感病品种 Remus 中对 FHB 侵染和产毒镰刀菌毒性因子脱氧雪腐镰刀菌烯醇（DON）的响应存在差异。通过病毒诱导的基因沉默（VIGS）抑制 TaMPT 或 TaSAM 的表达可增强 CM82036 对 FHB 病害的易感性，从而降低病害扩展速度（II 型抗病性）。VIGS 处理降低了 TaMPT 和 TaSAM 基因的表达，导致小麦穗粒数和粒重减少。这些结果表明 TaSAM 和 TaMPT 基因不仅与 FHB 抗性相关，还可能影响小麦的籽粒发育。因此，进一步研究 TaSAM 和 TaMPT 基因在提高小麦抗病性和籽粒发育方面的潜力具有重要意义。
