Interaction of methyl-jasmonate and Fusarium poae in bread wheat

DINOLFO M.; MARTINEZ M.; CASTAÑARES E.; VANZETTI L.; ROSSI F.; STENGLEIN S.A.; ARATA A.

FUNGAL BIOLOGY

Elsevier

Año: 2022 vol. 126 p. 786 - 792

1878-6146

Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) is a devastating disease that affects the grain yield andquality of essential crops such as wheat. Although F. graminearum is the mostpredominant Fusarium species able to produce FHB, some species have acquiredparticular importance as F. poae. However, studies to evaluate F. poae- wheat interactionare still scarce. The interaction between F. poae and two bread wheat cultivars withdifferent resistance levels against FHB was evaluated. Apogee and MS INTA 416 wereused as susceptible and resistant cultivars, respectively. Moreover, the application ofmethyl-jasmonate (MeJA) was evaluated as a possible tool to reduce the fungal presence.The fungal growth, number of conidia, fungal biomass, and the expression of genesrelated to salicylic acid and jasmonic acid signaling pathways, such as PR-1 and PDF 1.2,were quantified. Our results showed that the MeJA treatment is isolate-dependent,reducing F. poae fungal growth. MS INTA 416 showed a low number of conidia thanApogee, decreasing by the MeJA treatment in both cultivars. A decrease in fungalbiomass was observed in the susceptible cultivar after MeJA application; however, nodifferences between inoculated and inoculated-MeJA treatments were observed in the resistant cultivar. Finally, the F. poae inoculation induces the expression of PR1-1 andPDF 1.2, being early in the resistant cultivar compared to the susceptible ones. Theapplication of MeJA combined with the F. poae inoculation increased PR1-1 and PDF1.2expressions in resistant cultivars. To our knowledge, this is the first study that evaluatesthe interaction between F. poae and wheat and the MeJA treatment as a possiblemanagement strategy against this important pathogen.