RNA profiling of fusarium head blight-resistant wheat addition lines containing the Thinopyrum elongatum chromosome 7E

Abstract Fusarium graminearum is the major causal agent of fusarium head blight (FHB) of wheat, a fungal disease causing significant yield losses and reduction in grain quality due to the production and deposition of mycotoxins in the seed. Relatively few sources of resistance to FHB have been identified in wheat and other cereal crops. Thinopyrum elongatum (2n = 14, EE genome), a wild relative of wheat, was identified as a new source with a high level of resistance to FHB. Greenhouse inoculation experiments have determined that the resistance is located on the long arm of its chromosome 7E. To improve our understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in that resistance, we have used gene expression profiling by microarray to compare the susceptible wheat ‘Chinese Spring’ (CS), with two resistant addition lines containing either the 7E chromosome or a long arm telocentric of that chromosome in the CS background. The results have shown that many genes were affected similarly by F. graminearum in the r...