Metabolomic Aspects of Conservative and Resistance-Related Elements of Response to Fusarium culmorum in the Grass Family

Abstract

Background: Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a serious fungal disease affecting crop plants, causing substantial yield reductions and the production of mycotoxins in the infected grains. Achieving progress in the breeding of crops with increased resistance and maintaining a high yield is not possible without a thorough examination of the molecular basis of plant immunity responses. Methods: LC-MS-based metabolomics approaches powered by three-way ANOVA and the selection of differentially accumulated metabolites (DAMs) were used for studying plant immunity. A correlation network and functional enrichment analysis were conducted on grains of barley and wheat genotypes that were resistant or susceptible to FHB, as well as on the model grass Brachypodium distachyon (Bd), as this is still poorly understood at the metabolomic level. Results: We selected common and genotype-specific DAMs in response to F. culmorum inoculation. The immunological reaction at the metabolomic level was strongly diversified between resistant and susceptible genotypes. DAMs that were common to all tested species from the porphyrin, flavonoid, and phenylpropanoid metabolic pathways were highly correlated, reflecting conservativeness in the FHB response in the Poaceae family. Resistance-related DAMs belonged to different structural classes, including tryptophan-derived metabolites, pyrimidines, the amino acids proline and serine, as well as phenylpropanoids and flavonoids. The physiological response to F. culmorum of Bd was close to that of barley and wheat genotypes; however, metabolomic changes were strongly diversified. Conclusions: Combined targeted and untargeted metabolomics provides comprehensive knowledge about significant elements of plant immunity that have the potential to be molecular biomarkers of enhanced resistance to FHB in the grass family. Thorough examination of the Bd metabolome in juxtaposition with diversified genotypes of barley and wheat facilitated its use as a model grass for plant–microbe interaction.

Unraveling metabolite profile variations among resistance and susceptible shallot genotypes related to anthracnose (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides)

“…In contrast, susceptible varieties (Biru Lancor and Bima Brebes) exhibited a decrease in the number of responses of secondary metabolites. There was an increase in the number of secondary metabolites in the elephant grass family, which was artificially inoculated with Fusarium culmorum (Piasecka et al 2022). Rubaru is the most resistant shallot genotype based on disease severity analysis.…”

The Effects of Seed Infestation by Fusarium proliferatum on Root and Crown Rot, Plant Growth and Phenolic Compounds in Roots of Some Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) Cultivars

“…The amounts of phenolic compounds in the roots of inoculated cultivars were compared to their respective controls. The increase (as fold) in each phenolic compound of each cultivar was calculated by dividing the amount of phenolic compound in each replicate of inoculated cultivar by the average amount of its non-inoculated control (Abdelrahman et al, 2016;Özer et al, 2021;Piasecka et al, 2022).…”

Leaf rust (Puccinia recondita f. sp. secalis) triggers substantial changes in rye (Secale cereale L.) at the transcriptome and metabolome levels

“…The accumulation of BXs has been correlated with the resistance to various diseases of grasses, including LR in rye [ 10 ], head blight caused by Fusarium ssp. [ 24 ], and corn leaf blight [ 25 ]. Nevertheless, the genes and end-products in the BX pathway respond inconsistently to pathogens, indicative of a complex system regulating BX biosynthesis.…”