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ARS Home » Plains Area » Lincoln, Nebraska » Wheat, Sorghum and Forage Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #403946
Research Project: Genetic Improvement of Sorghum for Bioenergy, Feed, and Food Uses

Location: Wheat, Sorghum and Forage Research

Title: Constitutively expressing the sorghum phenylpropanoid pathway gene SbCCoAOMT can improve resistance to fusarium head blight of wheat

Author
item SINGLA, SHIV - University Of Nebraska
item Palmer, Nathan - Nate
item Bernhardson, Lois
item O`Neill, Patrick
item Gries, Tammy
item DURAY, ZACHARY - Illinois Crop Improvement Association
item DILL-MACKY, RUTH - University Of Minnesota
item Sattler, Scott
item WEGULO, STEPHEN - University Of Nebraska
item Funnell-Harris, Deanna

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/15/2023
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Resistance to Fusarium head blight (FHB) is quantitative. In sorghum, modifications in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis were shown to improve resistance to Fusarium species. We determined that constitutive expression of the sorghum gene SbCCoAOMT (caffeoyl coenzyme A 3-O-methyltransferase) in the moderately susceptible spring wheat CB037 improves resistance to FHB. When assessing Type-II (spread of infection) resistance, the CCoAOMT413 line, constitutively expressing SbCCoAOMT, had significantly reduced disease severity, as determined by the area under the disease progress curve, than the recipient line, CB037 (P = 0.05). Fusarium damaged kernels (FDK) and deoxynivalenol (DON) levels were also significantly lower than those in CB037 (P = 0.05), and similar to the moderately resistant lines Sumai-3 and Alsen (P > 0.05). Global gene expression in two wheat lines constitutively expressing SbCCoOAMT and CB037 at 12 and 72 hours post-inoculation (hpi) showed a total of 24,813 genes differentially expressed. At 72 hpi, 1,482 genes were uniquely upregulated and 1,047 genes were uniquely downregulated in CCoAOMT413. Gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis of genes upregulated uniquely in each genotype at 72 hpi showed that several defense-related biological process ontologies were mostly upregulated in the CCoAOMT413 line, included toxin metabolic process, systemic acquired resistance – salicylic acid-mediated signaling pathway, and phytoalexin metabolic process. Information from this study can be used to aid future breeding efforts to improve F. graminearum resistance in wheat.