Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
CEREAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS, 2024 (SCI-Expanded)
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.