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Central Role of Salicylic Acid in Resistance of Wheat Against Fusarium graminearum

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Abstract

Head blight caused by Fusarium graminearum (F. graminearum) is one of the major threats to wheat and barley around the world. The importance of this disease is due to a reduction in both grain yield and quality in infected plants. Currently, there is limited knowledge about the physiological mechanisms involved in plant resistance against this pathogen. To reveal the physiological mechanisms underlying the resistance to F. graminearum, spikes of resistant (Sumai3) and susceptible (Falat) wheat cultivars were analyzed 4 days after inoculation, as the first symptoms of pathogen infection appeared. F. graminearum inoculation resulted in a greater induction level and activity of salicylic acid (SA), callose, phenolic compounds, peroxidase, phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), and polyphenol oxidase in resistant versus susceptible cultivars. Soil drench application to spikes of SA, 24 h before inoculation with F. graminearum alleviated Fusarium head blight symptoms in both resistant and susceptible cultivars. SA treated plants showed a significant increment in hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production, lipid peroxidation, SA, and callose content. SA-induced H2O2 level seems to be related to increased superoxide dismutase and decreased catalase activities. In addition, real-time quantitative PCR analysis showed that SA pretreatment induced expression of PAL genes in both infected and non-infected head tissues of the susceptible and resistant cultivars. Our data showed that soil drench application of SA activates antioxidant defense responses and may subsequently induce systemic acquired resistance, which may contribute to the resistance against F. graminearum. These results provide novel insights about the physiological and molecular role of SA in plant resistance against hemi-biotrophic pathogen infection.

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Acknowledgments

Our high gratitude goes to Prof. Jyoti Shah of the Department of Biological Science, University of North Texas, USA, for his constructive advice. We also thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers for constructive comments on an earlier version of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Biology, and Center of Excellence in Phylogeny of Living Organisms in Iran, School of Biology, College of Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    Mona Sorahinobar, Vahid Niknam & Hassan Ebrahimzadeh

  2. Department of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran

    Hassan Soltanloo

  3. Department of Genetic, School of Biological Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

    Mehrdad Behmanesh

  4. National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (NIGEB), Tehran, Iran

    Sattar Tahmasebi Enferadi

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  1. Mona Sorahinobar
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  2. Vahid Niknam
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  3. Hassan Ebrahimzadeh
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  4. Hassan Soltanloo
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Correspondence to Vahid Niknam.

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Sorahinobar, M., Niknam, V., Ebrahimzadeh, H. et al. Central Role of Salicylic Acid in Resistance of Wheat Against Fusarium graminearum . J Plant Growth Regul 35, 477–491 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-015-9554-1

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