Project description:The plant pathogenic fungus Fusarium graminearum (Fgr) creates economic and health risks in cereals agriculture. Fgr causes head blight (or scab) of wheat and stalk rot of corn, reducing yield, degrading grain quality and polluting downstream food products with mycotoxins. Fungal plant pathogens must secrete proteases to access nutrition and to breakdown the structural protein component of the plant cell wall. Research into the proteolytic activity of Fgr is hindered by the complex nature of the suite of proteases secreted. We used a systems biology approach comprising genome analysis, transcriptomics and label-free quantitative proteomics to characterise the peptidases deployed by Fgr during growth. A combined analysis of published microarray transcriptome datasets revealed seven transcriptional groupings of peptidases based on in vitro growth, in planta growth, and sporulation behaviours. An orbitrap MS/MS proteomics technique defined the extracellular proteases secreted by Fusarium graminearum.
Project description:<p>Soil-borne diseases, with their high incidence and frequency in monoculture systems, pose a major challenge in contemporary agricultural production. Intercropping can promote beneficial soil legacy effects, thereby effectively mitigating the occurrence and damage of soil-borne diseases. In this study, we employed an integrated approach combining 16S rRNA sequencing, ITS amplicon sequencing, and untargeted metabolomics to systematically compare the differences in soil microbial community structure and metabolite profiles between soybean-tobacco intercropping and tobacco monoculture systems. Furthermore, we elucidated the mechanisms through which these differences influence the incidence of tobacco root rot. The results showed that intercropping significantly enhanced the survival rate of tobacco plants under Fusarium.spp infection (P < 0.01). Furthermore, intercropping markedly increased soil microbial community diversity and significantly reduced the relative abundance of Fusarium (by 53.17%). Additionally, intercropping disrupted the cooperative relationships between Fusarium and other microbial taxa, leading to reduced connectivity within the interaction network and a notable decline in its ecological competitive advantage. Metabolomic analysis revealed that intercropping promoted the accumulation of antimicrobial metabolites such as indole, and indole content was significantly negatively correlated with Fusarium abundance (P < 0.05). Further integrated microbiome-metabolome analysis demonstrated that intercropping fostered a more complex microbial-metabolite interaction network, which helped suppress the recolonization of pathogenic Fusarium. In conclusion, this study provides a theoretical basis for leveraging intercropping systems to modulate the rhizosphere micro-environment and control soil-borne diseases, offering new insights for developing sustainable green control strategies.</p>
Project description:The transcription factor Mac1 is a key regulator of copper homeostasis and controls the transcriptional response to copper-limiting conditions in fungi. Expression analyses performed in the soil-borne plant pathogen Fusarium oxysporum revealed that almost all copper starvation-induced genes are downregulated in the absence of the regulator Mac1. The aim of this ChIP-seq analysis is to elucidate which of these genes are direct targets of Mac1.
Project description:<p>Wheat is a major staple crop grown across the globe. Fusarium crown rot (FCR) of wheat, caused by Fusarium pseudograminearum, is a destructive soil-borne disease that lacks effective sustainable control measures. Here, we assembled a cross-kingdom synthetic microbial community (SMC) comprising Trichoderma harzianum T19, Bacillus subtilis BS-Z15, and four other Bacillus strains, and evaluated its biocontrol efficacy against FCR under non-sterile soil conditions. The SMC treatment significantly suppressed FCR, reducing the disease severity index by approximately 70%. Wheat growth and yield were simultaneously enhanced: SMC inoculation nearly doubled plant biomass (with fresh and dry weights ~100% higher) and increased thousand-kernel weight by ~14% compared to the controls. In the rhizosphere, SMC improved soil health by elevating soil organic matter and nitrogen levels by over 50%, while mitigating pathogen-induced nutrient imbalances (excess available P and K) and boosting nutrient-cycling enzyme activities. Amplicon sequencing revealed that SMC suppressed pathogenic Fusarium in the rhizosphere and enriched beneficial microbes, including antagonistic fungi (Trichoderma, Chaetomium) and plant growth-promoting bacteria (Pseudomonas, Paenibacillus). Co-occurrence network analysis showed that SMC treatment restructured the rhizosphere microbial network with higher connectivity, stability, and a prevalence of positive cooperative interactions under F. pseudograminearum stress. Defense-related metabolites, such as epi-jasmonic acid, allantoin, Nβ-acetyltryptamine, and dihydrodaidzein, accumulated to higher levels with SMC, consistent with KEGG enrichment in pathways related to amino acid biosynthesis, carbon metabolism, signal transduction, and plant defense. These findings demonstrate that the cross-kingdom SMC modulates soil nutrients, microbial community structure, and rhizosphere metabolites to synergistically promote wheat growth and enhance resistance to FCR.</p>
Project description:The plant pathogenic fungus Fusarium graminearum (Fgr) creates economic and health risks in cereals agriculture. Fgr causes head blight (or scab) of wheat and stalk rot of corn, reducing yield, degrading grain quality and polluting downstream food products with mycotoxins. Fungal plant pathogens must secrete proteases to access nutrition and to breakdown the structural protein component of the plant cell wall. Research into the proteolytic activity of Fgr is hindered by the complex nature of the suite of proteases secreted. We used a systems biology approach comprising genome analysis, transcriptomics and label-free quantitative proteomics to characterise the peptidases deployed by Fgr during growth. A combined analysis of published microarray transcriptome datasets revealed seven transcriptional groupings of peptidases based on in vitro growth, in planta growth, and sporulation behaviours. An orbitrap MS/MS proteomics technique defined the extracellular proteases secreted by Fusarium graminearum. This dataset includes the cellular control sample that was analysed with shotgun mass-spec proteomics followed SearchGUI and Peptide shaker searches.
Project description:The fungal pathogen Fusarium moniliforme causes ear rot in maize. Ear rot in maize is a destructive disease globally caused by Fusarium moniliforme , due to decrease of grain yield and increase of risks in raising livestock by mycotoxins production. Plants have developed various defense pathways to cope with pathogens. We used microarrays to detail the global programme of gene expression during the infection process of Fusarium moniliforme in its host plant to get insights into the defense programs and the host processes potentially involved in plant defense against this pathogen.