Cereal-Fusarium interactions: Improved fundamental insights into Fusarium pathogenomics and cereal host resistance reveals new ways to achieve durable disease control

Abstract

All cereal crop species are vulnerable to root, stem-base and floral diseases caused by various Fusarium species. Most problematic is Fusarium head blight because grains become contaminated with harmful mycotoxins. Currently Fusarium control using fungicides is only partially effective, whilst cultivars with acceptable resistance levels are scarce. This chapter reviews the recent advances in fundamental knowledge on the cell biology of interactions, the in planta production of trichothecene mycotoxins, Fusarium genomes/pan-genomes, newly discovered Fusarium virulence factors, small secreted effectors, plant defence components and resistance genes underlying major QTLs. These discoveries are discussed in the context of exploiting new intervention targets to achieve control through genetic modification, gene editing and HIGS. Finally, the chapter explores how to develop a more integrated approach that includes marker assisted selection in breeding programmes, removal of susceptibility loci and the inclusion of new approaches arising from plant defence, virulence and effector studies.