Guotian Li

Jianhui Wu

Jin-Ying Gou

Lisong Ma

Meixiang Zhang

Xiao-Ren Chen

Xiaodong Wang

Xiaojie Wang

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TYPE EditorialPUBLISHED 27 July 2022DOI 10.3389/fpls.2022.979855OPEN ACCESSEDITED BYYoussef Rouphael,University of Naples Federico II, ItalyREVIEWED BYPasquale Tripodi,Council for Agricultural andEconomics Research (CREA), Italy*CORRESPONDENCEXiaodong Wangzhbwxd@hebau.edu.cnXiaojie Wangwangxiaojie@nwsuaf.edu.cnXiao-Ren Chenxrchen@yzu.edu.cnJianhui Wuwujh@nwafu.edu.cnJin-Ying Goujygou@fudan.edu.cnMeixiang Zhangmeixiangzhang@snnu.edu.cnGuotian Lili4@mail.hzau.edu.cnLisong Malisong.ma@anu.edu.auSPECIALTY SECTIONThis article was submitted toCrop and Product Physiology,a section of the journalFrontiers in Plant ScienceRECEIVED 28 June 2022ACCEPTED 11 July 2022PUBLISHED 27 July 2022CITATIONWang X, Wang X, Chen X-R, Wu J, GouJ-Y, Zhang M, Li G and Ma L (2022)Editorial: Molecular interactionsbetween crops and phytopathogens,Volume I: Wheat and maize.Front. Plant Sci. 13:979855.doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.979855COPYRIGHT© 2022 Wang, Wang, Chen, Wu, Gou,Zhang, Li and Ma. This is anopen-access article distributed underthe terms of the Creative CommonsAttribution License (CC BY). The use,distribution or reproduction in otherforums is permitted, provided theoriginal author(s) and the copyrightowner(s) are credited and that theoriginal publication in this journal iscited, in accordance with acceptedacademic practice. No use, distributionor reproduction is permitted whichdoes not comply with these terms.Editorial: Molecular interactionsbetween crops andphytopathogens, Volume I:Wheat and maizeXiaodong Wang1*, Xiaojie Wang2*, Xiao-Ren Chen3*,Jianhui Wu4*, Jin-Ying Gou5*, Meixiang Zhang6*,Guotian Li7* and Lisong Ma1,8*1State Key Laboratory of North China Crop Improvement and Regulation, College of PlantProtection, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, China, 2State Key Laboratory of Crop StressBiology for Arid Areas, College of Plant Protection, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University,Xianyang, China, 3College of Horticulture and Plant Protection, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou,China, 4College of Agronomy, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Xianyang, China,5State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, MOE Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science andEcological Engineering, MOE Engineering Research Center of Gene Technology, School of LifeSciences, Institute of Plant Biology, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, 6National EngineeringLaboratory for Endangered Medicinal Resource Development in Northwest China, Key Laboratoryof Medicinal Resources and Natural Pharmaceutical Chemistry of Ministry of Education, College ofLife Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, China, 7State Key Laboratory of AgriculturalMicrobiology and Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Pathology of Hubei Province, College of PlantScience and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China, 8College of Horticulture,Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, ChinaKEYWORDSwheat, maize, fungal pathogen, multiple omics, hypersensitive responseEditorial on the Research TopicMolecular Interactions between Crops and Phytopathogens, VolumeI: Wheat and MaizeCrop disease poses a significant threat to global food security as the world populationcontinues to expand dramatically. Crops have evolved sophisticated strategies to ward offvarious invading phytopathogens. Accordingly, phytopathogens have evolved intricatevirulent mechanisms to facilitate their infection processes. Steady progress has beenachieved in understanding plant resistance to phytopathogens in the last two decades. Anemerging field of studying the molecular basis of crop-pathogen interactions is gainingmore attention.Wheat and maize are the main food crops cultivated worldwide. The dominantwheat-maize rotation in many areas has remarkably impacted the cultivationenvironments of these two crops. In addition to traditional fungal diseases such aswheat rust, powdery mildew, and Fusarium head blight, soil-borne diseases, includingFusarium crown rot, Gibberella stalk rot, and sheath blight, have emerged as new threatsto the global productions of wheat and maize.Frontiers in Plant Science 01 frontiersin.orgWang et al. 10.3389/fpls.2022.979855This Research Topic aims to explore the application ofmultiple omics in understanding the molecular interactionsbetween wheat/maize and phytopathogens; identificationof novel genes or genetic loci of wheat/maize conferringresistance to phytopathogens; functional characterizationof defense-related genes in wheat/maize; and discoveryof pathogenicity-related factors in phytopathogens. Intotal, it collects nine intriguing articles from internationalexperts in the field and covers a broad range of subjects,which allows us to divide these articles into the followingtwo themes:Plant basal and induced resistanceThe plant cell wall serves as the first barrier against theinvasion of phytopathogens. Glucan is involved in the formationof callose, which prevents the initial infection of pathogens atthe cell wall. Cheng et al. characterized a wheat glucan synthase-like gene TaGSL22 during plant resistance to powdery mildewpathogen (Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici, Bgt). An avirulentBgt pathotype significantly upregulated the expression level ofTaGSL22. Knocking down of TaGSL22 by virus-induced genesilencing (VIGS) reduced callose deposition, which resulted inenhanced wheat susceptibility to Bgt.Necrotrophic phytopathogens destroy basal host defensewith various cell wall-degrading enzymes (CWDEs) to facilitatetheir infections. In contrast, host plants evolve correspondingmechanisms to counteract the activities of CWDEs. Guo etal. identified a maize gamma-aminobutyric acid transaminase(GABA-T) that directly interacted with a cellulase from cornsheath blight pathogen (Rhizoctonia solani). Furthermore, theydemonstrated that the identifiedmaizeGABA-T gene and its ricehomolog (OsGABA-T) were sufficient to suppress the cellulase-induced necrosis, while CRISPR/Cas9-mediated OsGABA-T knockout rice plants displayed enhanced susceptibilityto R. solani.As key downstream of plant defense response, variouspathogenesis-related (PR) proteins function in the apoplasticspace during the onset of plant-pathogen interaction. Zhao J.et al. revealed that a wheat lipid transfer protein TaLTP3, alsoknown as a homolog of PR14, was positively correlated withplant resistance to leaf rust. Overexpression of the TaLTP3 genein the transgenic wheat lines resulted in enhanced rust resistanceand higher expression of TaPR1a in response to the infection ofthe model bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomatoDC3000. Further investigation indicated that TaLTP3 directlyinteracted with TaPR1a in the apoplastic space to co-regulate theplant defense response.Key regulators and components in early responses ofplant resistance to phytopathogens may have great potentialin interpreting the mechanism of plant defense responses.Using multiple omics techniques, Tang et al. profiled theregulatory network of a maize Gibberella stalk rot (GSR)-resistant gene ZmCCT at the early infection stage. The ZmCCT-mediated maize resistance to Gibberella stalk rot caused byFusarium graminearum were associated with activations ofpattern-triggered immunity (PTI), phytohormone pathwaysof salicylic acid (SA) and auxin, and accumulations ofphenylalanine metabolites.Systemic acquired resistance (SAR) was another criticaladd-on for plant defense response beyond the hypersensitiveresponse (HR). The action of some biocontrol agents wasintensively associated with SAR. Boamah et al. reported thata biocontrol fungus Trichoderma longibrachiatum (TG1) withpositive effects on wheat tolerance to salt stress and resistanceto Fusarium crown rot caused by F. pseudograminearum.Moreover, expression levels of PR genes were significantlyincreased in response to TG1.Hypersensitive responseActivation of plant major resistance (R) genes in responseto biotrophic phytopathogens often leads to hypersensitiveresponses (HR) at the infection site following the gene-for-gene theory. Many R genes derived from crop wildrelatives are widely used in breeding practice. Jin et al.identified a stripe rust resistance gene YrM8664-3 in a wheat-Leymus mollis introgression line. YrM8664-3, located on wheatchromosome 4AL, encoded a protein with plastid lipid-associated proteins (PAP)_fibrillin domain (TaFBN). TaFBNconferred high resistance to stripe rust in transgenic wheat lines.Myeloblastosis (MYB) transcription factors are vitalcomponents in plant development and resistance to variousstresses. Zhu et al. cloned a member of the R2R3-MYBsuperfamily in wheat and designated it as TaMYB29. Transientexpression of TaMYB29 in tobacco leaves triggered pathogen-independent cell death associated with increased accumulationof reactive oxygen species (ROS). Conversely, silencing ofTaMYB29 by VIGS significantly reduced the wheat resistance tostripe rust with reduced ROS accumulation.Specific mutations on plant R genes that exhibitedautoactivated HR are considered as valuable genetic resourcesto explore the mechanism of cell death in the plant. Ge et al.revealed the transcriptomic and metabolomic profiles of a maizeauto-activeHRmutantRp1-D21. Further investigation indicatedthat two maize UDP-dependent glycosyltransferase (ZmUGTs)genes partially suppressed the HR triggered by Rp1-D21 in aprotein interaction-independent manner.Interestingly, HR-like black necrotic lesions (HR-BNL) oftenoccur around the leaf infection sites of Fusarium head blight(FHB) in resistant wheat cultivars. Zhao L. et al. investigatedthe HR-BNL response in the leaf samples of a resistant wheatcultivar Sumai 3 inoculated with four disinct F. graminearumisolates. Flavonoid metabolites were identified and proved to beFrontiers in Plant Science 02 frontiersin.orgWang et al. 10.3389/fpls.2022.979855involved in the formation of HR-BNL. SA signaling pathwayassociated with ROS burst positively regulated FHB resistancein wheat with HR-BNL.Overall, this Research Topic presents a broad range ofarticles that describe the application of multi-omics approachesin different wheat/maize-fungus pathosystems and expand ourknowledge toward understanding the molecular interactionsbetween wheat/maize and phytopathogens. Notably, severalcollected articles focusing on the role of HR in crop resistancehave provided new insights into the molecular mechanism ofcrop major resistance genes.Author contributionsAll authors listed have made a substantial, direct,and intellectual contribution to the work and approved itfor publication.FundingXiaodW was supported by the Provincial Natural ScienceFoundation of Hebei (C2022204010 and C2021204008) andState Key Laboratory of North China Crop Improvement andRegulation (NCCIR2021ZZ-4). XiaojW was supported by theShaanxi Innovation Team Project (2018TD-004). X-RC wassupported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31871907 and 31671971) and Jiangsu Agriculture Science andTechnology Innovation Fund (JASTIF) [CX(20)3125]. JW wassupported by the Key R&D Program of Shaanxi Province inChina (2021ZDLNY0-01). J-YG was supported by the NationalNatural Science Foundation of China (31972350). MZ wassupported by the National Natural Science Foundation ofChina (32072399 and 31672008) and the Fundamental ResearchFunds for the Central Universities (GK202201017). GL wassupported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(32172373). LMwas supported by the Hundred Talents Programfor the introduction of high-level overseas talents in HebeiProvince (E2020100004).AcknowledgmentsWe thank the Frontiers Editorial Office and reviewers fortheir assistance in completing this Research Topic.Conflict of interestThe authors declare that the research was conducted in theabsence of any commercial or financial relationships that couldbe construed as a potential conflict of interest.Publisher’s noteAll claims expressed in this article are solely thoseof the authors and do not necessarily represent thoseof their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher,the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may beevaluated in this article, or claim that may be madeby its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed bythe publisher.Frontiers in Plant Science 03 frontiersin.org

Editorial: Molecular interactions between crops and phytopathogens, Volume I: Wheat and maize

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Editorial: Molecular interactions between crops and phytopathogens, Volume I: Wheat and maize

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