Evaluation of Brachypodium spp. System Model Against Fusarium poae

Abstract

Cereal crops are affected by one of the most devastating diseases worldwide,known as Fusarium head blight (FHB), with Fusarium graminearum being the most isolatedcausal pathogen. Another species associated with this disease is Fusarium poae. Thisspecies has been considered a relatively weak pathogen compared to F. graminearum, butits importance has increased due to its occurrence in cereal grains worldwide. Consideringthe advantages of using B. distachyon as a plant model and the importance of F. poae incrops, our study aimed to evaluate the potential use of Brachypodium as a plant modelto evaluate the compatible interaction with F. poae. Twelve Brachypodium spp. accessionsfrom different countries were inoculated with a selected F. poae set of isolates. Diseaseseverity, conidial quantification, fungal DNA biomass, and nivalenol quantification wereassessed. The results showed a compatible interaction between Brachypodium accessionsand Fusarium poae, which allowed the use of the model plant for future plant?pathogeninteraction studies.