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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Pullman, Washington » WHGQ » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #374639
Research Project: Improving Control of Stripe Rusts of Wheat and Barley through Characterization of Pathogen Populations and Enhancement of Host Resistance

Location: Wheat Health, Genetics, and Quality Research

Title: Identification of a hyperparasitic Simplicillium obclavatum strain affecting the infection dynamics of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici on wheat

Author
item WANG, N - Northwest A&f University
item FAN, X - Northwest A&f University
item ZHANG, S - Northwest A&f University
item HE, M - Northwest A&f University
item Chen, Xianming
item TANG, C - Northwest A&f University
item KANG, Z - Northwest A&f University
item WANG, X - Northwest A&f University

Submitted to: Frontiers in Microbiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/19/2020
Publication Date: 6/24/2020
Citation: Wang, N., Fan, X., Zhang, S., He, M.Y., Chen, X., Tang, C.L., Kang, Z.S., Wang, X.J. 2020. Identification of a hyperparasitic Simplicillium obclavatum strain affecting the infection dynamics of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici on wheat. Frontiers in Microbiology. 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.01277.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.01277

Interpretive Summary: Wheat stripe rust is one of the most serious threats to wheat production worldwide. Changes of the pathogen virulence may circumvent resistance in wheat varieties, and application of fungicides may cause environmental problems. Parasites of the stripe rust fungus can be used to develop biological agents for environmentally friendly control of this fungal disease. Here, we report a hyperparasitic fungus isolated from the wheat stripe rust pathogen and identified it as Simplicillium obclavatum through molecular and morphological characterizations. We demonstrated that inoculation of stripe rust-infected wheat leaves with the parasitic fungus reduced the production and germination rate of urediniospores of the stripe rust fungus. Therefore, the parasitic fungus has the potential to be developed into a biological control agent for managing wheat stripe rust.

Technical Abstract: Wheat stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), is one of the most serious threats to wheat production worldwide. Changes of Pst virulence may circumvent resistance in wheat varieties, and application of fungicides may cause environmental problems. Parasites of Pst can be used to develop biological agents for environmentally friendly control of this fungal disease. Here, we report a hyperparasitic fungus isolated from Pst and identified it as Simplicillium obclavatum through molecular and morphological characterizations. We demonstrated that inoculation of Pst-infected wheat leaves with S. obclavatum reduced the production and germination rate of Pst urediniospores. Therefore, S. obclavatum has the potential to be developed into a biological control agent for managing wheat stripe rust.