Abstract
Pathogens that infect more than one host offer an opportunity to study how resistance mechanisms have evolved across different species. Exserohilum turcicum infects both maize and sorghum and the isolates are host-specific, offering a unique system to examine both compatible and incompatible interactions. We conducted transcriptional analysis of maize and sorghum in response to maize-specific and sorghum-specific E. turcicum isolates and identified functionally related co-expressed modules. Maize had a more robust transcriptional response than sorghum. E. turcicum responsive genes were enriched in core orthologs in both crops, but only up to 16% of core orthologs showed conserved expression patterns. Most changes in gene expression for the core orthologs, including hub genes, were lineage specific, suggesting a role for regulatory divergent evolution. We identified several defense-related shared differentially expressed (DE) orthologs with conserved expression patterns between the two crops, suggesting a role for parallel evolution of those genes in both crops. Many of the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) during the incompatible interaction were related to quantitative disease resistance (QDR). This work offers insights into how different hosts with relatively recent divergence interact with a common pathogen. Our results are important for developing resistance to this critical pathogen and understanding the evolution of host-pathogen interactions.
Highlights
Host expansions and shifts are a major threat to global food security but offer a unique opportunity to understand host resistance (Zhong et al, 2016; Corredor-Moreno and Saunders, 2020)
We observed flecking on both maize and sorghum as infection is still early in process and lesions do not develop until 14 days post inoculation (Supplementary Figure 1)
More than 90% of the total reads obtained from sorghum mapped to the sorghum reference genome uniquely, and at least 80% of the total reads mapped to exons within genes (Supplementary Figure 2)
Summary
Host expansions and shifts are a major threat to global food security but offer a unique opportunity to understand host resistance (Zhong et al, 2016; Corredor-Moreno and Saunders, 2020). Understanding conserved defense mechanisms in related crop species has important implications for the management of pathogens infecting multiple crops using host resistance. The identification of conserved resistance mechanisms across crop species and translation from one species to another can help in the development of resistant cultivars in new crop species and preparing. Maize and Sorghum Defense Transcriptome for future emergencies (Dangl et al, 2013). Understanding how genes and expression patterns are conserved across species in response to common biotic stressors, and how the regulation of such genes affects phenotype in the host is important to understand plant– pathogen co-evolution
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