Determination of Resistance Levels of Hordeum Vulgare L. Cultivars Grown in Türkiye Against Fusarium Culmorum

Abstract

In this study, resistance levels, WRKY gene expression, and epigenetic changes in barley cultivars commonly used in T & uuml;rkiye were investigated against Fusarium culmorum, a phytopathogen resulting in a decrease in yield and product quality in barley production worldwide. Twenty-one barley cultivars were infected with the reference strain of F. culmorum FcUK99 at the seedling stage, and relatively sensitive (Akhisar 98) and resistant (Avc & imath; 2002) cultivars to be used in the investigation of epigenetic changes and genomic stability by coupled restriction enzyme digestion-random amplification analysis were selected through comparison at the morphological level and the disease severity. Genomic template stability values were found to be 83% for sensitive barley cultivar Akhisar 98 and 90% for resistant cultivar Avc & imath; 2002, and % polymorphism values for HapII and MspI restriction patterns were shown to be 22.3% and 37.8% for Akhisar 98, and 0% and 5.8% for Avc & imath; 2002, respectively. The effects of pathogenicity on gene expression levels of seven WRKY genes selected as being mostly biotic stress-responsive showed significant differences between Avc & imath; 2002 and Akhisar 98 cultivars. The sensitive barley cultivar Akhisar 98 presented a higher level of expression for WRKY9, WRKY25, WRKY33, WRKY34, WRKY41, and WRKY42 in comparison with the relatively resistant cultivar Avc & imath; 2002, which presented a higher level of expression only for WRKY6 gene. Principal component analysis showed that a comparison of WRKY6 expression levels and GTS analysis were necessary for the selection of barley genotypes to be used in developing resistant/tolerant genotypes for effective disease management for sustainable agriculture.