Integrative systems biology of wheat susceptibility to Fusarium graminearum uncovers a conserved gene regulatory network and identifies master regulators targeted by fungal core effectors.

Background: Plant diseases are driven by an intricate set of defense mechanisms counterbalanced by the expression of host susceptibility factors promoted through the action of pathogen effectors. In spite of their central role in the establishment of the pathology, the primary components of plant susceptibility are still poorly understood and challenging to trace especially in plant-fungal interactions such as in Fusarium head blight (FHB) of bread wheat. Designing a system-level transcriptomics approach, we leveraged the analysis of wheat responses from a susceptible cultivar facing Fusarium graminearum strains of different aggressiveness and examined their constancy in four other wheat cultivars also developing FHB.

Infection Strategy in Wheat Involves a Highly Conserved Genetic Program That Controls the Expression of a Core Effectome.

, the main causal agent of Fusarium Head Blight (FHB), is one of the most damaging pathogens in wheat. Because of the complex organization of wheat resistance to FHB, this pathosystem represents a relevant model to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying plant susceptibility and to identify their main drivers, the pathogen's effectors. Although the catalog of effectors has been well characterized at the genome scale, in planta studies are needed to confirm their effective accumulation in host tissues and to identify their role during the infection process.