Plant Biotechnology Journal (2020) 18, 2373-2375

Minhui Wang, Lei Wu, Yuzhen Mei, Youfu Zhao, Zhonghua Ma, Xu Zhang and Yun Chen (2020)
Host-induced gene silencing of multiple genes of Fusarium graminearum enhances resistance to Fusarium head blight in wheat
Plant Biotechnology Journal 18 (12), 2373-2375
Abstract: Fusarium head blight (FHB) caused predominately by Fusarium graminearum complex is a devastating disease of wheat. Frequent epidemics of FHB have been reported in all FHB-prone regions during the last decade, especially in China. FHB not only causes the loss of grain yield, but also raises food safety risks due to the harmful mycotoxin contamination in infected grains. Deoxynivalenol (DON) is the most common and economically important Fusarium mycotoxin identified in cereal grains, and it is also a critical virulence factor for F. graminearum infection (Chen et al., 2019). Resistant varieties are the most economical approach in controlling FHB. However, sources for FHB resistance are limited and resistant wheat cultivars are often accompanied by undesired agronomic traits, making conventional disease-resistance breeding difficult (Bai and Shaner, 2004). Recently, a RNA interference (RNAi)-based approach called host-induced gene silencing (HIGS) has been developed to control fungal diseases, where small interference RNAs (siRNAs) that match important genes of the invading pathogen are produced by transgenic host plants to silence fungal genes during infection (Machado et al., 2018). The use of HIGS to control F. graminearum was first demonstrated by Koch et al., in which detached leaves of both transgenic Arabidopsis and barley plants expressing double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) from cytochrome P450 lanosterol C-14α-demethylase genes exhibit elevated resistance to F. graminearum (Koch et al., 2013). However, detached leaves might not represent natural F. graminearum floral infections. In addition, the HIGS transgenic wheat targeting the chitin synthase 3b also confers resistance to FHB (Cheng et al., 2015). These data suggest that the HIGS strategy is valuable for developing FHB-resistant wheat cultivars. However, DON is a secondary metabolite, and there are few reports on utilization of the HIGS technology for management of secondary metabolism. In this study, we evaluated the potential of HIGS for development of transgenic wheat plants against both FHB and DON contamination by simultaneously silencing three genes of F. graminearum.
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Database assignments for author(s): Youfu Zhao, Zhonghua Ma

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
resistance/tolerance/defence of host

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Fusarium graminearum	Wheat (Triticum)