To ensure food security.. Innovative genome discovery methods develop varieties resistant to wheat blight disease

An international team of researchers has used innovative genome discovery methods to show how to halt the spread of the devastating wheat blight disease. Researchers have identified two genes that protect wheat plants from exposure to the fungus that causes the disease.

The study, which was conducted by the team and published in Nature Plants on February 16, provides insight into how plants defend themselves against pathogens.

The findings of the international study, by a team led by Britain's John Innes Centre, could lead to the development of new strategies to protect crops from disease.

What is wheat blight disease?

Wheat blight is one of the most feared diseases of wheat in recent decades, having left a trail of devastation across 3 continents since it was first reported in 1985.

The disease spreads like wildfire in wet weather conditions during the flowering stage of wheat and through infected seeds, as well as via spores that can travel long distances in the air, posing a major threat to global wheat production.

Mushrooms in grains can leave a secondary substance called “fumitoxin” that may infect people and livestock, and the US Food and Drug Administration has set the maximum limit for this substance in food at one part per million.

Therefore, discovery and dissemination of resistance genes against this disease is crucial to mitigate the threat it poses.

Wheat blight threatens agriculture around the world (Al Jazeera)

Innovative genome discovery methods

To make this discovery, the team used a new technology called rapid gene cloning (AgRenSeq), which was developed by researchers from the John Innes Center with colleagues in the US and Australia for genomic detection, and to accelerate the fight against pathogens that threaten food crops around the world.

The new technology allowed them to search for beneficial genes among a range of heritage wheat cultivars and wild relatives of wheat.

The new technique enables researchers to mine and search a vast genetic "library" of resistance genes detected in wild relatives of modern crops so that they can quickly identify genetic sequences associated with the plant's disease-fighting ability.

The researchers found two genes associated with resistance to wheat blight, and found that these genes were present in some wheat cultivars, but absent from others, suggesting that they can be used as markers for producing wheat blight-resistant varieties.

Next, the researchers identified two types of wheat proteins (kinase enzyme and immunoreceptor) that contribute to providing resistance to the fungus, then used genetic engineering techniques to produce genetically modified wheat with variable levels of these two proteins, then tested the ability of this product to resist infection with the fungus.

The results showed that wheat containing higher levels of both proteins had increased resistance to infection compared to plants with lower levels. The researchers then conducted further experiments to determine how these two proteins interact to provide resistance against the fungus.

They found that when both proteins were present at high levels, they formed a complex that was able to specifically recognize and bind to molecules on the surface of the fungus, and this binding prevented fungal infection by preventing them from entering plant cells.

Overall, this study provided evidence that wheat genes and immune receptors can form host-specific barriers against the fungus, and this finding can be used in future research aimed at developing new strategies to control this disease in wheat crops.

The team plans to provide information to farmers to produce varieties resistant to wheat blight (John Innes Centre)

A good example of international cooperation

The research team says the method is adaptable enough to find disease resistance genes, and their study provides a clue to how to respond to emerging crop diseases by identifying resistance genes in plant varieties and confirming that these genetic barriers to disease are present in plant varieties.

The results of the study indicate that innovative genomic discovery methods can be used to identify genes associated with resistance to wheat blight and can be used in breeding programs to develop resistant varieties of wheat, thus helping to reduce losses from this devastating disease and improve food security around the world. .

"We have made an important discovery of an emerging disease that threatens global food security," said Professor Paul Nicholson, leader of the research group at the John Innes Center, in a center press release.

The International Research Collaboration team - which includes groups from Japan and Saudi Arabia - plans to make this information available to the International Center for the Improvement of Maize and Wheat, and this allows breeders to quickly identify these genes in their groups, and to ensure that they are included in breeding varieties resistant to wheat blight disease.

"This is a really good example of international collaboration contributing to the UN's sustainability goals, because global plant health is important for food sustainability," said Dr. Jonathan Clark, Head of Knowledge Exchange and Marketing at the John Innes Centre.