Take-All Disease: New Insights into an Important Wheat Root Pathogen

Take-all disease, caused by the fungal root pathogen Gaeumannomyces tritici, is considered to be the most important root disease of wheat worldwide. Here we review the advances in take-all research over the last 15 years, focusing on the identification of new sources of genetic resistance in wheat r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Trends in plant science 2021-08, Vol.26 (8), p.836-848
Main Authors: Palma-Guerrero, Javier, Chancellor, Tania, Spong, Jess, Canning, Gail, Hammond, Jess, McMillan, Vanessa E., Hammond-Kosack, Kim E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ascomycota
Cereals
Disease control
Fungi
Gaeumannomyces graminis tritici
Gaeumannomyces tritici
genetic resistance
Genomes
Magnaporthaceae
microbiome
Microbiomes
Microbiota
Molecular interactions
Pathogens
Plant Diseases
Take-all disease
Transcriptomes
Triticum - genetics
Triticum aestivum
Wheat
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Summary:Take-all disease, caused by the fungal root pathogen Gaeumannomyces tritici, is considered to be the most important root disease of wheat worldwide. Here we review the advances in take-all research over the last 15 years, focusing on the identification of new sources of genetic resistance in wheat relatives and the role of the microbiome in disease development. We also highlight recent breakthroughs in the molecular interactions between G. tritici and wheat, including genome and transcriptome analyses. These new findings will aid the development of novel control strategies against take-all disease. In light of this growing understanding, the G. tritici–wheat interaction could provide a model study system for root-infecting fungal pathogens of cereals. The ancestral wheat species Triticum monococcum has been shown as a potential source of resistance genes against take-all. In addition, modern wheat cultivars show variation in their ability to build up inoculum, indicating that this trait is under genetic control. Different wheat cultivars can be used to manipulate the level of inoculum in the field and therefore the disease levels in subsequent years.Recent discoveries on the avenacin synthesis pathway from oats, provide the potential for engineering this pathway into wheat to provide high level resistance to take-all.The soil microbiome influences the three phases of disease development, and each phase can be modulated by host genotype.Host induced gene silencing (HIGS) has been successfully used in wheat to silence a pathogen effector gene during root infection, showing its potential for functional validation of pathogen genes.
ISSN:1360-1385
1878-4372
DOI:10.1016/j.tplants.2021.02.009