Gene expression and metabolic patterns of plants for basal disease resistance and susceptibility

Ralph Hückelhoven

We study the global transcriptional, proteomic and metabolic reprogramming of crop and model plants during the response to biotic and abiotic stress. Thereby we aim at better understanding the function of signaling and metabolic pathways in determining disease resistance and susceptibility:

In barley, patterns of gene expression and protein abundance globally change in response to attack from the biotrophic fungal pathogen Blumeria hordei and from hemibiotrophic Fusarium culmorum. During this response thousands of barley genes change expression in a statistically significant way (see e.g. Schnepf et al. 2018, Mol. Plant Pathol.) and according expression patterns are further greatly shifted depending on the abiotic environment. However, it is not understood, in how far these dramatic changes reflect immune responses that actually restrict infection, global re-allocation of metabolism, or even reprogramming of the susceptible host by fungal virulence effectors. We analyse such global changes by comparing them in differently susceptible barley genotypes and in diverse abiotic stress contexts with the aim of identifying target genes for applied sciences  and crop improvement (Hoheneder & Steidele et al. 2023, J. Exp. Bot.).

With the group of Corinna Dawid (TUM, Functional Phytometabolomics) we further study the function of secondary plant metabolites in barley and Solanaceae plant interaction with fungal and oomycete pathogens. This identifies new plant-derived chemicals with the potential to control pathogen development (see Baur et al. 2022a, J Agr. Food Chem. for an example from potatoes). Additionally, barley reacts with a strong metabolic response to pathogens or wounding applied as a proxy for insect damage or strong mechanical stress. Fatty acid derived metabolites and volatiles are in the focus of our research as they turn out to have plant-to-plant signaling capacity and induce disease resistance in barley (Laupheimer & Kurzweil et al. 2023, Plant Biol.; Laupheimer et al. 2024, Physiol. Plant.).