Horizontal gene transfer of <i>Fhb7</i> from fungus underlies <i>Fusarium</i> head blight resistance in wheat
Hongwei Wang, Silong Sun, Wenyang Ge, Lanfei Zhao, Bingqian Hou, Kai Wang, Zhongfan Lyu, Liyang Chen, Shoushen Xu, Jun Guo, Min Li, Peisen Su, Xuefeng Li, Guiping Wang, Cunyao Bo, Xiaojian Fang, Wenwen Zhuang, Xinxin Cheng, Jianwen Wu, Luhao Dong, Wuying Chen, Li Wen, Guilian Xiao, Jinxiao Zhao, Yongchao Hao, Ying Xu, Yu Gao, Wenjing Liu, Yanhe Liu, Huayan Yin, Jiazhu Li, Xiang Li, Yan Zhao, Xiaoqian Wang, Fei Ni, Xin Ma, Anfei Li, Steven S. Xu, Guihua Bai, Eviatar Nevo, Caixia Gao, H. W. Ohm, Lingrang Kong
Abstract
Fungal disease meets its match Fusarium head blight (FHB), caused by a fungus, reduces wheat crop yield and introduces toxins into the harvest. From the assembly of the genome of Thinopyrum elongatum , a wild relative of wheat used in breeding programs to improve cultivated wheat, Wang et al. cloned a gene that can address both problems (see the Perspective by Wulff and Jones). The encoded glutathione S -transferase detoxifies the trichothecene toxin and, when expressed in wheat, confers resistance to FHB. Science , this issue p. eaba5435 ; see also p. 822