Transcriptomic analysis unveils gene networks associated with the Fusarium head blight resistance transferred from Triticum turgidum ssp. carthlicum into durum wheat

Citation

Sari, E., Cabral, A.L., Polley, B., Tan, Y., Konkin, D.J., Hsueh, E., Knox, R.E., Ruan, Y., and Fobert, P.R. 2019. Transcriptomic analysis unveils gene networks associated with the Fusarium head blight resistance transferred from Triticum turgidum ssp. carthlicum into durum wheat. International Society for Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions XVIII Congress, Glasgow, Scotland, July 14-18, 2019.

Résumé

Fusarium head blight (FHB) resistance in the durum wheat gene pool is poor. Triticum turgidum ssp. carthlicum line Blackbird is a relative of durum wheat that offers partial FHB resistance. The objective of this study was to identify candidate regulatory resistance genes in the defense mechanisms underlying the resistance of Blackbird. RNA-seq analysis was conducted to identify differences in the transcriptome of Blackbird, durum cv. Strongfield and two progenies of the Strongfield/Blackbird population with extreme disease rating. Weighted Gene Correlation Network Analysis identified five gene-networks significantly (P < 0.05) associated with the resistance to FHB spread, two of which show moderate to high correlation with the plant height and one with relative maturity. Two gene networks showed subtle difference between Fusarium graminearum inoculated and mock inoculated plants in all the genotypes, supporting their involvement in constitutive defense. The candidate regulatory genes encode proteins involved in pathogen recognition, signaling pathways (e.g. abscisic acid and mitogen activated protein kinase signaling), transcriptional regulation of both defense and development, cell death regulation and cell wall reinforcement. Hub genes within the five significant modules co-located with seven previously reported FHB resistance QTL. SNPs associated within the hub genes are available for future high resolution mapping studies.

Date de publication

2019-07-14