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Insights into the resistance of a synthetically-derived wheat to Septoria tritici blotch disease: less is more.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Little is known about the initial, symptomless (latent) phase of the devastating wheat disease Septoria tritici blotch. However, speculations as to its impact on fungal success and disease severity in the field have suggested that a long latent phase is beneficial to the host and can reduce inoculum build up in the field over a growing season. The winter wheat cultivar Stigg is derived from a synthetic hexaploid wheat and contains introgressions from wild tetraploid wheat Triticum turgidum subsp. dicoccoides, which contribute to cv. Stigg's exceptional STB resistance, hallmarked by a long latent phase. We compared the early transcriptomic response to Zymoseptoria tritici of cv. Stigg to a susceptible wheat cultivar, to elucidate the mechanisms of and differences in pathogen recognition and disease response in these two hosts. RESULTS:The STB-susceptible cultivar Longbow responds to Z. tritici infection with a stress response, including activation of hormone-responsive transcription factors, post translational modifications, and response to oxidative stress. The activation of key genes associated with these pathways in cv. Longbow was independently observed in a second susceptible wheat cultivar based on an independent gene expression study. By comparison, cv. Stigg is apathetic in response to STB, and appears to fail to activate a range of defence pathways that cv. Longbow employs. Stigg also displays some evidence of sub-genome bias in its response to Z. tritici infection, whereas the susceptible cv. Longbow shows even distribution of Z. tritici responsive genes across the three wheat sub-genomes. CONCLUSIONS:We identify a suite of disease response genes that are involved in early pathogen response in susceptible wheat cultivars that may ultimately lead to susceptibility. In comparison, we hypothesise that rather than an active defence response to stave off disease progression, cv. Stigg's defence strategy is molecular lethargy, or a lower-amplitude of pathogen recognition that may stem from cv. Stigg's wild wheat-derived ancestry. Overall, we present insights into cv. Stigg's exceptional resistance to STB, and present key biological processes for further characterisation in this pathosystem.

SUBMITTER: Benbow HR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7469286 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Insights into the resistance of a synthetically-derived wheat to Septoria tritici blotch disease: less is more.

Benbow Harriet R HR Brennan Ciarán J CJ Zhou Binbin B Christodoulou Thalia T Berry Simon S Uauy Cristobal C Mullins Ewen E Doohan Fiona M FM

BMC plant biology 20200903 1

<h4>Background</h4>Little is known about the initial, symptomless (latent) phase of the devastating wheat disease Septoria tritici blotch. However, speculations as to its impact on fungal success and disease severity in the field have suggested that a long latent phase is beneficial to the host and can reduce inoculum build up in the field over a growing season. The winter wheat cultivar Stigg is derived from a synthetic hexaploid wheat and contains introgressions from wild tetraploid wheat Trit ...[more]

PMID: 32883202

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Project description:Septoria tritici blotch (STB) is a devastating fungal disease affecting durum and bread wheat cultivation worldwide. The identification, development, and employment of resistant wheat genetic material is the key to overcoming costs and limitations of fungicide treatments. The search for resistance sources in untapped genetic material may speed up the deployment of STB genetic resistance in the field. Ethiopian durum wheat landraces represent a valuable source of such diversity. In this study, 318 Ethiopian durum wheat genotypes, for the most part traditional landraces, were phenotyped for resistance to different aspects of STB infection. Phenology, yield and yield component traits were concurrently measured the collection. Here we describe the distribution of STB resistance traits in modern varieties and in landraces, and the relation existing between STB resistance and other agronomic traits. STB resistance sources were found in landraces as well as in modern varieties tested, suggesting the presence of alleles of breeding relevance. The genetic material was genotyped with more than 16 thousand genome-wide polymorphic markers to describe the linkage disequilibrium and genetic structure existing within the panel of genotypes, and a genome-wide association (GWA) study was run to allow the identification of genomic loci involved in STB resistance. High diversity and low genetic structure in the panel allowed high efficiency GWA. The GWA scan detected five major putative QTL for STB resistance, only partially overlapping those already reported in the wheat literature. We report four putative loci for Septoria resistance with no match in previous literature: two highly significant ones on Chr 3A and 5A, and two suggestive ones on Chr 4B and 5B. Markers underlying these QTL explained as much as 10% of the phenotypic variance for disease resistance. We found three cases in which putative QTL for agronomic traits overlapped marker trait association deriving from STB GWA. Our results show that the Ethiopian untapped allelic diversity bears a great value in studying the molecular basis of STB resistance and in breeding for resistance in local and international material.

Project description:The ascomycete Mycosphaerella graminicola is the causal agent of septoria tritici blotch (STB), one of the most destructive foliar diseases of bread and durum wheat globally, particularly in temperate humid areas. A screening of the French bread wheat cultivars Apache and Balance with 30 M. graminicola isolates revealed a pattern of resistant responses that suggested the presence of new genes for STB resistance. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis of a doubled haploid (DH) population with five M. graminicola isolates in the seedling stage identified four QTLs on chromosomes 3AS, 1BS, 6DS and 7DS, and occasionally on 7DL. The QTL on chromosome 6DS flanked by SSR markers Xgpw5176 and Xgpw3087 is a novel QTL that now can be designated as Stb18. The QTLs on chromosomes 3AS and 1BS most likely represent Stb6 and Stb11, respectively, and the QTLs on chromosome 7DS are most probably identical with Stb4 and Stb5. However, the QTL identified on chromosome 7DL is expected to be a new Stb gene that still needs further characterization. Multiple isolates were used and show that not all isolates identify all QTLs, which clearly demonstrates the specificity in the M. graminicola-wheat pathosystem. QTL analyses were performed with various disease parameters. The development of asexual fructifications (pycnidia) in the characteristic necrotic blotches of STB, designated as parameter P, identified the maximum number of QTLs. All other parameters identified fewer but not different QTLs. The segregation of multiple QTLs in the Apache/Balance DH population enabled the identification of DH lines with single QTLs and multiple QTL combinations. Analyses of the marker data of these DH lines clearly demonstrated the positive effect of pyramiding QTLs to broaden resistance spectra as well as epistatic and additive interactions between these QTLs. Phenotyping of the Apache/Balance DH population in the field confirmed the presence of the QTLs that were identified in the seedling stage, but Stb18 was inconsistently expressed and might be particularly effective in young plants. In contrast, an additional QTL for STB resistance was identified on chromosome 2DS that is exclusively and consistently expressed in mature plants over locations and time, but it was also strongly related with earliness, tallness as well as resistance to Fusarium head blight. Although to date no Stb gene has been reported on chromosome 2D, the data provide evidence that this QTL is only indirectly related to STB resistance. This study shows that detailed genetic analysis of contemporary commercial bread wheat cultivars can unveil novel Stb genes that can be readily applied in marker-assisted breeding programs.

Dataset Information

Insights into the resistance of a synthetically-derived wheat to Septoria tritici blotch disease: less is more.

Publications

Insights into the resistance of a synthetically-derived wheat to Septoria tritici blotch disease: less is more.

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