Barley shows reduced Fusarium head blight under drought and modular expression of differentially expressed genes under combined stress

Felix Hoheneder, Christina E. Steidele, Maxim Messerer, Klaus F.X. Mayer, Nikolai Köhler, Christine Wurmser, Michael Heß, Michael Gigl, Corinna Dawid, Remco Stam, Ralph Hückelhoven

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Plants often face simultaneous abiotic and biotic stress conditions; however, physiological and transcriptional responses under such combined stress conditions are still not fully understood. Spring barley (Hordeum vulgare) is susceptible to Fusarium head blight (FHB), which is strongly affected by weather conditions. We therefore studied the potential influence of drought on FHB severity and plant responses in three varieties of different susceptibility. We found strongly reduced FHB severity in susceptible varieties under drought. The number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and strength of transcriptomic regulation reflected the concentrations of physiological stress markers such as abscisic acid or fungal DNA contents. Infection-related gene expression was associated with susceptibility rather than resistance. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis revealed 18 modules of co-expressed genes that reflected the pathogen- or drought-response in the three varieties. A generally infection-related module contained co-expressed genes for defence, programmed cell death, and mycotoxin detoxification, indicating that the diverse genotypes used a similar defence strategy towards FHB, albeit with different degrees of success. Further, DEGs showed co-expression in drought- or genotype-associated modules that correlated with measured phytohormones or the osmolyte proline. The combination of drought stress with infection led to the highest numbers of DEGs and resulted in a modular composition of the single-stress responses rather than a specific transcriptional output.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)6820-6835
Number of pages16
JournalJournal of Experimental Botany
Volume74
Issue number21
DOIs
StatePublished - 21 Nov 2023

Keywords

  • 3'-RNA-seq
  • Barley
  • Fusarium head blight
  • Hordeum vulgare
  • drought stress
  • transcriptome
  • weighted gene co-expression network analysis

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Barley shows reduced Fusarium head blight under drought and modular expression of differentially expressed genes under combined stress'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this