Fusarium head blight (FHB), caused by Fusarium graminearum, severely reduces wheat yield and grain quality due to deoxynivalenol (DON) contamination. To develop sustainable alternatives to synthetic fungicides, we evaluated the antifungal activity of tea infusion. It significantly inhibited F. graminearum mycelial growth, conidiation, and germination. Transmission electron...
Ustilaginoidea virens, the causal agent of rice false smut, produces a variety of mycotoxins, including ustilaginoidins, which are highly toxic and harmful to humans and animals. The Ugs gene cluster has been identified to be responsible for ustilaginoidin biosynthesis in U. virens. However, little is yet known about how ustilaginoidin biosynthetic genes are transcriptionally...
The mycovirus Cryphonectria hypovirus 1 (CHV1) and its host, the chestnut blight fungus Cryphonectria parasitica, constitute a well-established biocontrol system. However, the mechanisms by which CHV1 modulates host physiology remain incompletely characterized. This study investigated how CHV1 rescues the phenotypic defects of the SUMOylation-deficient mutant of C. parasitica...
Wheat blast, caused by the Magnaporthe oryzae Triticum pathotype (MoT), is a devastating fungal disease that poses a significant global threat to wheat production. Rapid diagnosis is crucial for effective monitoring, containment, and management of this highly transmissible pathogen. In this study, we developed an integrated field-detection kit, named Wheat Blast Rapid Detection...
Acetylation is one of the ubiquitous modifications of cell wall polysaccharides, which affects cell wall structure and function. Acetyltransferase and acetyl esterase mediate the process of polysaccharides acetylation and are responsible for the dynamic modification of acetyl. Currently, three classes of acetyltransferases (reduced wall acetylation 2, RWA2; trichome birefringence...
Tylenchulus semipenetrans is considered the most devastating nematode pest of citrus, causing significant damage to all citrus-producing regions worldwide. The present study, the T. semipenetrans from the rhizosphere of Citrus grandis was sequenced using Illumina and Oxford Nanopore technologies, yielding a high-contiguity 68.9 Mb assembly (N50 = 670.6 kb). Gene prediction based...
Fungal histone methylation modification (HMM) includes methylation and demethylation at the histone lysine/arginine residues, which are catalyzed by the methyltransferases (HMTs) and demethylases (HDMs) of histone, respectively. In phytopathogenic fungi, HMM plays crucial roles in the environmental stress responses, growth and development, pathogenicity, and production of...
Apigenin is a natural plant flavonoid known for its remarkable biological activity. While numerous studies have documented the accumulation of glycosylated and non-glycosylated apigenin in fruit and vegetable crops, apigenin's direct and indirect effects on plant resistance remain poorly understood. This study employed non-targeted metabolomics strategies to monitor metabolome...
Plant viruses employ diverse strategies to hijack host machinery for viral translation initiation. Cap-independent translation enhancers located in the 3′ untranslated region (3′-CITEs) have been identified in many members of the families Tombusviridae and Luteoviridae. However, viral proteins that regulate 3′-CITE-mediated translation remain unreported, and the underlying...
Plant resistance genes play a critical role in enhancing crop immunity against various biotic stresses, such as pathogens, nematodes, and insects, safeguarding global agricultural productivity. A collection of plant resistance genes identified between 1992 and 2017 has been reported previously. To provide an updated overview of advances in research on plant resistance genes, we...
Fusarium oxysporum is a devastating soil-borne pathogen that causes wilt diseases in numerous economically important crops. Conventional fungicides typically target essential cellular processes, exerting strong selection pressure for the rapid development of resistance. In this study, we investigated the key conidiation regulator FolAbaA and identified, through virtual screening...
Xanthomonas is one of the most widespread and destructive bacterial plant pathogens, posing a significant threat to global food security. Xanthomonas pathovars exhibit remarkable host specificity and adaptability, and are capable of infecting a variety of staple crops, including rice, citrus, and tomato. While Xanthomonas usually infects the host plant alone, it can also interact...
Colletotrichum is a destructive fungal genus and a major cause of anthracnose disease in food crops, posing a serious threat to global food security. Various species of this genus affect different plant tissues, with infections during fruit ripening and post-harvest stages being particularly prevalent and economically damaging. Recent studies have identified newly emerging...
The fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea causes gray mold disease, with Bcras1 serving as a key virulence factor. However, the role of Bcras1 in the environmental responses and its downstream signaling pathways remains unclear. This study investigated the function of Bcras1 and its regulatory network using gene deletion and transcriptomic analysis. Results showed that ΔBcras1 mutants...
DHN (1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene) melanin is a significant secondary metabolite found in phytopathogenic fungi, predominantly localized in mature aerial hyphae, conidia, and appressoria. It performs various biological functions, including responding to extreme environments and regulating growth, development, and pathogenicity. Key biosynthetic enzymes and transcription factors...
Genome editing is essential for studying gene function for pathogens such as Erwinia amylovora, which causes devastating fire blight in fruit trees of the family Rosaceae. CRISPR/Cas genome editing technology has been widely used in various model organisms, but E. amylovora lacks effective genome editing tools. Here, we present a simple and effective gene knockout method based on...
Litchi downy blight, caused by the phytopathogenic oomycete Phytophthora litchii, is one of the most devastating diseases impacting litchi cultivation, resulting in significant economic loss. The elongator protein complex is crucial for the growth and virulence of filamentous fungi; however, the specific role of the elongator protein component Elp3 within oomycetes remains poorly...
The Ralstonia solanacearum species complex (RSSC), a devastating soil-borne phytopathogen, urgently requires advanced genetic tools to unravel its pathogenicity mechanisms. Here, we present the pRSCq toolkit, a versatile plasmid system derived from the filamentous phage RSCq through genome minimization and engineering. By systematically deleting non-essential genes while...
Plant cell-surface-localized pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs) recognize conserved microbial patterns to activate pattern-triggered immunity (PTI), which confers mild and broad-spectrum resistance to most microbes. Rapid alkalinization factor (RALF) peptides are a family of secreted peptides that have been reported to regulate many biological processes, including plant...
Areca palm velarivirus 1 (APV1), a member of the genus Velarivirus (family Closteroviridae), is an economically significant pathogen associated with yellow leaf disease in Areca palm (Areca catechu L.), causing substantial declines in both yield and quality decline. The APV1 genome comprises 11 open reading frames (ORFs), with ORF6 and ORF7 encoding the coat protein (CP) and...
Wheat powdery mildew, caused by Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici (Bgt), is an important disease affecting wheat production in Henan Province, China. In this study, 915 isolates from 2011 to 2020 were obtained from 14 cities/counties, virulence assessment was conducted, and SSR markers were employed to analyze the population in 2020. Virulence frequencies, pathotypes, and...
Soybean is an important oil and cash crop around the world, but viral infections are widespread in soybean producing area, causes significant damage in soybean. However, the resistance mechanisms of soybean to viral diseases remain poorly understood. In this study, we evaluated resistance to soybean mosaic virus (SMV; Potyvirus glycitessellati) and cowpea mild mottle virus (CPMMV...
Wheat stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), is a major global threat to wheat production, severely affecting yield stability. This study analyzed the virulence and genetic characteristics of Pst populations on five wheat cultivars during 2020 and 2021. A total of 116 pathotypes were identified among 384 isolates using a set of 24 differential lines...
Leaf rust is a highly destructive disease that poses a significant threat to both the yield and quality of wheat. Identification of genetic loci can aid in enhancing leaf rust resistance in wheat breeding. In the present study, 262 recombinant inbred lines derived from a cross between Zhongmai 578 and Jimai 22 were used to map leaf rust resistance loci using the Wheat 50K single...