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The role of trichothecenes in the Triticeae-Fusarium graminearum interactions.
G. J. MUEHLBAUER (1), S. Shin (1), J. Boddu (1), S. Gardiner (1), H. Jia (1), S. Cho (1), S. McCormick (2), W. Schweiger (3), M. Lemmens (3), F. Berthiller (3), C. Hametner (4), P. Kovalsky Paris (3), J. Torres-Acosta (3), G. Adam (3). (1) University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, U.S.A.; (2) USDA-ARS, Peoria, IL, U.S.A.; (3) University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Tulln, Austria; (4) Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria

Fusarium Head Blight (FHB), caused by <i>Fusarium graminearum</i>, is a major disease problem for the small grain crops wheat and barley. During infection, <i>F. graminearum</i> produces trichothecene mycotoxins such as deoxynivalenol (DON) that increase the aggressiveness of the fungus and reduces grain quality. Thus, we are interested in identifying genes that protect wheat and barley from the toxic effects of trichothecenes. Previous work had identified an <i>Arabidopsis</i> DOGT1 gene, encoding an UDP-glucosyltransferase (UGT), as involved in trichothecene resistance via conjugation of DON to DON-3-glucoside (D3G). We examined transcript profiles in wheat and barley during <i>Fusarium graminearum</i> infection and inoculation with the trichothecene deoxynivalenol (DON). From these experiments, we identified a set of 10 barley UDP-glucosyltransferases (UGT) that were upregulated during <i>F. graminearum</i> infection or DON treatment. We screened this set of UGTs in yeast and identified a barley UGT (HvUGT13248) gene that conferred resistance to DON via conjugation to D3G. Transgenic <i>Arabidopsis</i> overexpressing HvUGT13248 exhibited the ability to grow on media containing DON. DON feeding studies on the transgenic <i>Arabidopsis</i> showed that DON was conjugated to D3G. In contrast to prior work in <i>Arabidopsis</i> overexpression DOGT1 exhibited a dwarf phenotype due to brassinosteroid conjugation, transgenic <i>Arabidopsis</i> overexpressing HvUGT13248 did not exhibit dramatic changes in morphology and did not conjugate the brassinosteroid castasterone. More recently, we developed transgenic wheat overexpressing HvUGT13248 and showed that these lines exhibited high type II FHB resistance.<p><p>Keywords:

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