Genome-wide search and gene expression studies reveal candidate effectors with a role in pathogenicity and virulence in <i>Fusarium graminearum</i>

<i>Fusarium graminearum</i> causes Fusarium head blight (FHB) disease in wheat worldwide. Although <i>F. graminearum</i> is reported to secrete several effectors, their role in virulence and pathogenicity is unknown. The study aimed at identifying candidate genes with a role in pathogenicity and virulence using two different host systems, <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i> and wheat, challenged with <i>F. graminearum</i> TN01. Detached leaf assay and histological studies revealed the virulent nature of TN01. A genome-wide in silico search revealed several candidate genes, of which 23 genes were selected based on reproducibility. Gene expression studies by reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in leaf tissues of Arabidopsis and the two wheat genotypes, the susceptible (Sonalika) and the resistant (Nobeoka Bozu/Nobeoka), compared with mock-treated controls in a time-course study using fungal- and plant-specific genes as internal controls revealed that these genes were differentially regulated. Further, expression of these candidates in <i>F. graminearum</i>–inoculated Sonalika and Nobeoka spikes compared with mock-treated controls revealed their role in pathogenicity and virulence. Gene ontology studies revealed that some of these secretory proteins possessed a role in apoptosis and ceratoplatanin and KP4 killer toxin syntheses. A three-dimensional protein configuration was performed by homology modeling using trRosetta. Further, real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) studies in <i>F. graminearum</i>–inoculated Arabidopsis and wheat at early time points of inoculation revealed an increased expression of the majority of these genes in Sonalika, suggesting their possible role in pathogenicity, whereas low mRNA abundance was observed for 11 of these genes in the resistant genotype, Nobeoka, compared with Sonalika, indicating their role in virulence of <i>F. graminearum</i>.