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. 2023 Apr 5;24(1):178.
doi: 10.1186/s12864-023-09268-7.

Comparative analysis of Fusarium crown rot resistance in synthetic hexaploid wheats and their parental genotypes

Ying Chen  1   2   3 , Yunpeng Wang  2 , Fangnian Guan  2 , Li Long  2 , Yuqi Wang  2 , Hao Li  2 , Mei Deng  2 , Yazhou Zhang  2 , Zhien Pu  4 , Wei Li  4 , Qiantao Jiang  2 , Jirui Wang  1   4 , Yuming Wei  1   2 , Jian Ma  2 , Qiang Xu  2 , Houyang Kang  2 , Pengfei Qi  2 , Zhongwei Yuan  2 , Lianquan Zhang  1 , Dengcai Liu  1   2 , Youliang Zheng  2 , Guoyue Chen  5 , Yunfeng Jiang  6
Affiliations

Comparative analysis of Fusarium crown rot resistance in synthetic hexaploid wheats and their parental genotypes

Ying Chen et al. BMC Genomics. .

Abstract

Background: Fusarium crown rot (FCR) is a chronic disease of cereals worldwide. Compared with tetraploid wheat, hexaploid wheat is more resistant to FCR infection. The underlying reasons for the differences are still not clear. In this study, we compared FCR responses of 10 synthetic hexaploid wheats (SHWs) and their tetraploid and diploid parents. We then performed transcriptome analysis to uncover the molecular mechanism of FCR on these SHWs and their parents.

Results: We observed higher levels of FCR resistance in the SHWs compared with their tetraploid parents. The transcriptome analysis suggested that multiple defense pathways responsive to FCR infection were upregulated in the SHWs. Notably, phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) genes, involved in lignin and salicylic acid (SA) biosynthesis, exhibited a higher level of expression to FCR infection in the SHWs. Physiological and biochemical analysis validated that PAL activity and SA and lignin contents of the stem bases were higher in SHWs than in their tetraploid parents.

Conclusion: Overall, these findings imply that improved FCR resistance in SHWs compared with their tetraploid parents is probably related to higher levels of response on PAL-mediated lignin and SA biosynthesis pathways.

Keywords: Fusarium crown rot; Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase; Synthetic hexaploid wheat; Transcriptome.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
– The difference in FCR severity among SHWs and their tetraploid and diploid parents. (A) A representative figure of the FCR responses in 2 SHWs and their tetraploid and diploid parents. (B) DI values of 10 SHWs and their tetraploid and diploid parents. (C) Box plot displays average DI values of 10 SHWs and their tetraploid and diploid parents. **p < 0.01. “SHW” represents synthetic hexaploid wheat, “TW” represents tetraploid wheat, “DW” represents diploid wheat
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
– Transcriptome differences among 2 SHWs and their tetraploid and diploid parents after FCR infection. (A) The number of up-regulated and down-regulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs). (B) Venn diagrams showing the number of DEGs among 2 SHWs and their tetraploid and diploid parents. Red and blue indicated the number of up-regulated and down-regulated DEGs, respectively. (C) Heat maps showing the identical and specific DEGs in SHWs. Log2 (fold change) in two SHWs ≥ 1 and all parents < 1, or two SHWs ≤ -1 and all parents > -1. (D) Heat maps showing the identical up-regulated GO terms in SHWs. Purple highlighted the differential GO terms among 2 SHWs and their parents. (E) Heat maps showing the identical down-regulated GO terms in SHWs.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
– The difference of expression pattern in defense pathways regulated by Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase genes (PAL) among SHWs and their tetraploid and diploid parents. (A) Expression of genes involved in L-phenylalanine catabolic process (GO:0006559), response to salicylic acid (GO:0009751) and lignin biosynthesis (GO:0009809) in two SHWs and their tetraploid and diploid parents following FCR infection. (B) Scatter plots of fold changes for PAL genes. n represents number of genes. (C) The difference of expression pattern in lignin and salicylic acid biosynthesis pathways between SHWs and their tetraploid parents. C4H, cinnamic acid 4-hydroxylase; C3H, coumarate 3-hydroxylase; 4CL, 4-coumarate coenzyme A ligase; CCoAOMT, caffeoyl CoA O-methyltransferase; CCoA3H: p-coumarate3-hydroxylase; CCR, cinnamoyl-CoA reductase; F5H, ferulate 5-hydroxylase; COMT, caffeic acid O-methyltransferase; CAD, cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase; AIM1, abnormal inflorescence meristem 1;BA2H, benzoic acid 2-hydroxylase
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
– Measurements of six physiological parameters associated with resistance to FCR infection in SHWs and their parents. (A) The bar graphs display PAL activity, chitinase activity, SA content, JA content and ABA content of the stem base in 5 SHWs and their parents following FCR infection, respectively. (B) The box plots display average PAL activity, chitinase activity, SA content, JA content and ABA content of the stem base in 5 SHWs and their parents following FCR infection, respectively. (C) The bar graphs display lignin content of the stem base in 10 SHWs and their tetraploid parents at seedling and heading stages, respectively. (D) The box plots display average lignin content of the stem base in 10 SHWs and their tetraploid parents at seedling and heading stage. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01. “SHW” represents synthetic hexaploid wheat, “TW” represents tetraploid wheat, “DW” represents diploid wheat
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
 A potential mechanism for improving Fusarium crown rot resistance in hexaploid wheat. Red indicated stronger response pathways in hexaploid wheat than in tetraploid wheat following F. pesudagraminearum infection
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