The barley HvSTP13GR mutant triggers resistance against biotrophic fungi

authored by
Caroline Ines Skoppek, Wilko Punt, Marleen Heinrichs, Frank Ordon, Gwendolin Wehner, Jens Boch, Jana Streubel
Abstract

High-yielding and stress-resistant crops are essential to ensure future food supply. Barley is an important crop to feed livestock and to produce malt, but the annual yield is threatened by pathogen infections. Pathogens can trigger an altered sugar partitioning in the host plant, which possibly leads to an advantage for the pathogen. Hampering these processes represents a promising strategy to potentially increase resistance. We analysed the response of the barley monosaccharide transporter HvSTP13 towards biotic stress and its potential use for plant protection. The expression of HvSTP13 increased on bacterial and fungal pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP) application, suggesting a PAMP-triggered signalling that converged on the transcriptional induction of the gene. Promoter studies indicate a region that is probably targeted by transcription factors downstream of PAMP-triggered immunity pathways. We confirmed that the nonfunctional HvSTP13GR variant confers resistance against an economically relevant biotrophic rust fungus in barley. Our experimental setup provides basal prerequisites to further decode the role of HvSTP13 in response to biological stress. Moreover, in line with other studies, our experiments indicate that the alteration of sugar partitioning pathways, in a host–pathogen interaction, is a promising approach to achieve broad and durable resistance in plants.

Organisation(s)
Section Plant Biotechnology
External Organisation(s)
Julius Kühn Institute - Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants (JKI)
Type
Article
Journal
Molecular Plant Pathology
Volume
23
Pages
278-290
No. of pages
13
ISSN
1464-6722
Publication date
09.01.2022
Publication status
Published
Peer reviewed
Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Molecular Biology, Agronomy and Crop Science, Soil Science, Plant Science
Electronic version(s)
https://doi.org/10.1111/mpp.13161 (Access: Open)