Brachypodium distachyon: a new pathosystem to study Fusarium head blight and other Fusarium diseases of wheat
Open Access
- 1 January 2011
- journal article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in BMC Plant Biology
- Vol. 11 (1), 100
- https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2229-11-100
Abstract
Fusarium species cause Fusarium head blight (FHB) and other important diseases of cereals. The causal agents produce trichothecene mycotoxins such as deoxynivalenol (DON). The dicotyledonous model species Arabidopsis thaliana has been used to study Fusarium-host interactions but it is not ideal for model-to-crop translation. Brachypodium distachyon (Bd) has been proposed as a new monocotyledonous model species for functional genomic studies in grass species. This study aims to assess the interaction between the most prevalent FHB-causing Fusarium species and Bd in order to develop and exploit Bd as a genetic model for FHB and other Fusarium diseases of wheat. The ability of Fusarium graminearum and Fusarium culmorum to infect a range of Bd tissues was examined in various bioassays which showed that both species can infect all Bd tissues examined, including intact foliar tissues. DON accumulated in infected spike tissues at levels similar to those of infected wheat spikes. Histological studies revealed details of infection, colonisation and host response and indicate that hair cells are important sites of infection. Susceptibility to Fusarium and DON was assessed in two Bd ecotypes and revealed variation in resistance between ecotypes. Bd exhibits characteristics of susceptibility highly similar to those of wheat, including susceptibility to spread of disease in the spikelets. Bd is the first reported plant species to allow successful infection on intact foliar tissues by FHB-causing Fusarium species. DON appears to function as a virulence factor in Bd as it does in wheat. Bd is proposed as a valuable model for undertaking studies of Fusarium head blight and other Fusarium diseases of wheat.Keywords
This publication has 49 references indexed in Scilit:
- Natural variation of drought response in Brachypodium distachyonPhysiologia Plantarum, 2010
- Genome sequencing and analysis of the model grass Brachypodium distachyonNature, 2010
- Ferulic acid, an efficient inhibitor of type B trichothecene biosynthesis and Tri gene expression in Fusarium liquid culturesMycological Research, 2009
- QTL mapping and marker‐assisted selection for Fusarium head blight resistance in wheat: a reviewPlant Breeding, 2009
- Natural mechanisms for cereal resistance to the accumulation of Fusarium trichothecenesEuropean Journal of Plant Pathology, 2008
- Cytological and immunocytochemical studies on responses of wheat spikes of the resistant Chinese cv. Sumai 3 and the susceptible cv. Xiaoyan 22 to infection by Fusarium graminearumEuropean Journal of Plant Pathology, 2007
- The GLK1 ‘regulon’ encodes disease defense related proteins and confers resistance to Fusarium graminearum in ArabidopsisBiochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 2007
- Genetic Variability of Central European Isolates of the Fusarium graminearum Species ComplexEuropean Journal of Plant Pathology, 2005
- Analysis of the relationship between parameters of resistance to Fusarium head blight and in vitro tolerance to deoxynivalenol of the winter wheat cultivar WEK0609 ®European Journal of Plant Pathology, 2005
- Cytology and ultrastructure of the infection of wheat spikes by Fusarium culmorumMycological Research, 2000