Proteinaceous toxins of Stagonospora nodorum, the causal agent of triticale leaf and glume blotch.

Abstract

S. nodorum is an economically important necrotrophic pathogen of cereals and grasses worldwide. In past several years appeared in literature quite a number of reports on existence of proteinaceous effectors produced by the fungus which induce necrosis in cereal host tissue. These host specific toxins induce necrosis by interacting with specific, dominant host genes. Up to the present research on S. nodorum toxin resistance was conducted only with wheat. Because wheat chromosomes are present in triticale genome, it is highly likely that mechanism used by S. nodorum for necrosis induction in triticale is the same as in wheat. Simple pilot experiment conducted in our laboratory, confirms that mechanism of necrosis induction via proteinaceous toxins is similar for both, wheat and triticale.