Durum wheat is among the cereal crops most susceptible to Fusarium Head Blight (FHB), a fungal disease that can lead to significant yield losses. Despite this, only limited research efforts have been directed towards understanding FHB resistance in durum wheat. Wheat grains naturally contain phenolic compounds, and anthocyanins are particularly present in the so-called pigmented wheat genotypes, such as purple pericarp ones. In this study the effects of the biotic stress caused by Fusarium graminearum infection on phenylpropanoid biosynthetic pathway in durum wheat spikes were explored, considering three genotypes with different susceptibility (including a purple pericarp genotype), and two time points (an early stage time point: 2 days post infection, and a late stage time point: 21 days post infection). At early infection stage, the F. graminearum infection triggered upregulation of all the considered genes involved in the phenylpropanoid pathway in the resistant genotype, while, in the purple pericarp genotype, the infection caused an increase in quercetin accumulation in the soluble fraction of spike extract. At late infection stage, the infection caused (in all the genotypes) a degradation of secondary cell wall and the release of the hydroxycinnamic acids esterified with arabinoxylans (ferulic acid and p-coumaric acid) and lignin-derived monomers (vanillic acid). Furthermore, chalcone synthase gene (CHS) and the transcription factor Ppm1 (Purple pericarp MYB 1) were boosted in the pigmented genotype due to infection at late infection stage. These findings contribute to the understanding of host-pathogen interactions for future breeding programs focused on improving FHB resistance in durum wheat varieties, with a particular focus on pigmented genotypes.
Calcium (Ca2+) is essential for signal conduction and plant growth. Cyclic nucleotide-gated channels (CNGCs) are Ca2+ transporters that regulate Ca2+ signalling and homeostasis by modulating its transmembrane transport, thereby influencing plant development as well as the biotic and abiotic stress responses. Although identified in numerous plant species, the CNGC family has not been characterized in apple until now. Here, 20 MdCNGCs were identified from the apple genome and were randomly distributed on 13 chromosomes. Phylogenetic analysis classified these MdCNGCs into five groups (I, Ⅱ, Ⅲ, Ⅳ-a, and Ⅳ-b), with five pairs of segmental duplicated genes being detected via collinearity analysis. Sequence alignment and analyses of gene structures, conserved motifs, and 3D structures indicated high structural conservation, particularly within groups. Yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) assays demonstrated interactions between most MdCNGCs and the Ca2+ receptor MdCaM7.1, except for MdCNGC1B and MdCNGC15A. Promoter analysis and expression profiling revealed significant responses to abiotic stress, particularly salt stress, in some MdCNGCs. Silencing MdCNGC15A significantly enhanced apple plants salt tolerance, while its overexpression in apple calli significantly decreased tolerance, as shown by transgenic analysis. Collectively, our results demonstrate the crucial role of MdCNGCs in abiotic stress responses and provide valuable insights for future functional and regulatory studies in apples.