AUTHOR=Li Liang , Guo Nannan , Feng Yu , Duan Mengmeng , Li Chunhui 

TITLE=Effect of Piriformospora indica-Induced Systemic Resistance and Basal Immunity Against Rhizoctonia cerealis and Fusarium graminearum in Wheat

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2022.836940

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2022.836940

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Wheat is among the top 10 and most widely grown crops in the world. However, wheat is often infected with many soil-borne diseases, including sharp eyespot, mainly caused by the necrotrophic fungus <italic>Rhizoctonia cerealis</italic>, and Fusarium head blight (FHB), caused by <italic>Fusarium graminearum</italic>, resulting in reduced production. <italic>Piriformospora indica</italic> is a root endophytic fungus with a wide range of host plants, which increases their growth and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. In this study, the capability of <italic>P. indica</italic> to protect wheat seedlings against <italic>R. cerealis</italic> and <italic>F. graminearum</italic> was investigated at the physiological, biochemical, and molecular levels. Our results showed that <italic>P. indica</italic> significantly reduced the disease progress on wheat caused by <italic>F. graminearum</italic> and <italic>R. cerealis in vivo</italic>, but not showed any antagonistic effect on <italic>F. graminearum</italic> and <italic>R. cerealis in vitro</italic>. Additionally, <italic>P. indica</italic> can induce systemic resistance by elevating H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> content, antioxidase activity, relative water content (RWC), and membrane stability index (MSI) compared to the plants only inoculated with <italic>F. graminearum</italic> or <italic>R. cerealis</italic> and control. RNA-seq suggested that transcriptome changes caused by <italic>F. graminearum</italic> were more severe than those caused by <italic>R. cerealis.</italic> The number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the transcriptome can be reduced by the addition of <italic>P. indica:</italic> for <italic>F. graminearum</italic> reduced by 18% and for <italic>R. cerealis</italic> reduced 58%. The DEGs related to disease resistance, such as WRKY and MAPK, were upregulated by <italic>P. indica</italic> colonization. The data further revealed that the transcriptional resistance to <italic>F. graminearum</italic> and <italic>R. cerealis</italic> mediated by <italic>P. indica</italic> is quite different.</p>