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ARS Home » Plains Area » Manhattan, Kansas » Center for Grain and Animal Health Research » Hard Winter Wheat Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #396057
Research Project: Genetic Improvement of Biotic and Abiotic Stress Tolerance and Nutritional Quality in Hard Winter Wheat

Location: Hard Winter Wheat Genetics Research

Title: TaHRC suppresses the calcium-mediated immune response and triggers wheat Fusarium head blight susceptibility

Author
item CHEN, HUI - Kansas State University
item SU, ZHENQI - Kansas State University
item TIAN, BIN - Kansas State University
item Hao, Guixia
item TRICK, HAROLD - Kansas State University
item Bai, Guihua

Submitted to: Plant Physiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/5/2022
Publication Date: 7/28/2022
Citation: Chen, H., Su, Z., Tian, B., Hao, G., Trick, H., Bai, G. 2022. TaHRC suppresses the calcium-mediated immune response and triggers wheat Fusarium head blight susceptibility. Plant Physiology. 190(3):1566-1569. https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiac352.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiac352

Interpretive Summary: Frequent and severe Fusarium head blight (FHB) epidemics of wheat threaten global food security and food safety. Fhb1 is one of the most important resistance genes against FHB. Previously, we demonstrated that the ancestral allele of Fhb1 is actually a susceptibility gene and resistance is achieved by mutations in Fhb1 that knock-out the ancestral gene function. Here we identified TaCAXIP4 protein as an Fhb1-interacting protein. We proposed that Fhb1 may hijack TaCAXIP4 to suppresses calcium-mediated plant immune responses, which facilitates the pathogen spread within a wheat spike. This work provides further insights into molecular mechanisms of Fhb1 for regulating resistance and susceptibility in wheat.

Technical Abstract: Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a destructive disease in wheat (Triticum aestivum) worldwide. Frequent and severe FHB epidemics threat global food security and safety. Improvement of FHB resistance in wheat cultivars can effectively minimize FHB damage. Previously, we have cloned a histidine-rich calcium-binding protein gene (TaHRC) as the causal gene for Fhb1 and demonstrated that the TaHRC wide-type allele conditions FHB susceptibility. To understand how TaHRC regulates FHB susceptibility in wheat, we conducted yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) screening and co-transformation assays and identified TaCAXIP4 as a TaHRC interacting protein to regulate Ca2+ transporting activity. We demonstrated that TaCAXIP4 interacts with TaHRC in the nuclei of cells to trigger wheat FHB susceptibility and the functional nuclear localization signal (NLS) domain in TaHRC N-terminus is essential for the interaction. TaHRC may hijack TaCAXIP4 to suppresses calcium-mediated plant immune responses, which facilitates the pathogen spread within a wheat spike. This work provides further insights into molecular mechanisms of TaHRC on regulating FHB susceptibility in wheat.