Thesis
Genetic and metabolic determinants of resistance to fusarium crown rot in spring wheat
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
07/2019
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000000074
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/118943
Abstract
As the climate changes in unprecedented ways, outbreaks of crop diseases are expected to
recur often. Fusarium crown rot, a soil fungal disease, develops at early plant growth stages and
thus, the disease negatively affects plant survival and yield. Limited sources of genetic resistance
have been identified. However, landraces from the Middle East have shown potential resistance
that can be introgressed in adapted commercial lines. In this study, we investigated the genetic and
metabolic potential of a recombinant inbred line population derived from the cross between an
Iranian landrace and a spring wheat cultivar adapted to the Pacific Northwest (PNW) of the
USA. Putative marker-trait associations were detected, although the genome coverage by markers
was incomplete in our population.
From another perspective, the metabolic study of disease resistance involved the
monitoring of changes in total lignin content. Lignin is a group of aromatic polymers that act to
strengthen plant cell-walls. This strengthening is thought to reduce plant infection and the spread
of the pathogen. Increased lignin in the roots had been previously documented in the Iranian landrace. In our study, the results were, in most instances, inconsistent with our initial hypothesis
that increased lignin content is associated with higher disease resistance. In only two instances did
we observe an increase of lignin in infected plants as opposed to the non-infected plants. However,
the difference was not statistically significant. Nevertheless, the theory of infection-induced lignin
production cannot be ruled out because studies suggest that the quantitative difference in monomer
composition ratios can also be the reason for resistance to diseases. Therefore, more work is
necessary to decipher the implication of lignin in resistance to Fusarium crown rot in wheat
genotypes from this population.
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Details
- Title
- Genetic and metabolic determinants of resistance to fusarium crown rot in spring wheat
- Creators
- Aichatou Djibo Waziri
- Contributors
- KIMBERLY CAMPBELL (Degree Supervisor) - Washington State University, Crop and Soil Sciences, Department ofTIM PAULITZ (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Plant Pathology, Department ofSCOT HOWARD HULBERT (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Plant Pathology, Department ofKAREN SANGUINET (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Crop and Soil Sciences, Department of
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Crop and Soil Sciences, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Format
- pdf
- Number of pages
- 96
- Identifiers
- 99900590663801842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis