Antagonistic effects of Bacillus megaterium on Fusarium graminearum: transcriptomic modulation of ion and metabolite transport, stress, and mycotoxin pathways
European Journal of Plant Pathology, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.1007/s10658-026-03271-w
- Dergi Adı: European Journal of Plant Pathology
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, BIOSIS, CAB Abstracts, Environment Index, Geobase, Natural Science Collection (ProQuest), Biological Science Database (ProQuest), Biomedical Reference Collection: Corporate Edition (EBSCO), Pharma Collection (ProQuest)
- Anahtar Kelimeler: Bacillus megaterium, Fusarium graminearum, Fusarium head blight, Gene expression, RNA-seq analysis
- Sivas Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
Fusarium graminearum is one of the pathogenic fungi responsible for Fusarium head blight (FHB) and Fusarium crown rot (FCR), two diseases of cereals. Although synthetic fungicide treatments still provide an efficient approach for managing F. graminearum diseases, the use of biocontrol agents is a promising, eco-friendly tool to overcome FHB and FCR. However, there is limited information about the transcriptomic alterations in F. graminearum due to biocontrol agents. Here, transcriptomic alterations were investigated in F. graminearum treated with Bacillus megaterium (FGBM). Transcriptome analysis specified a total of 532 up-regulated genes and 533 down-regulated genes with padj < 0.05. The maximum and minimum expression levels ranged from -5.37 ± 0.46 to 5.25 ± 0.54 fold. The genes related to the most prevalent mycotoxins (deoxynivalenol and zearalenone) produced by F. graminearum showed down-regulation along with genes involved in defensin, aurofusarin, fusarielin, ferrocroic, and fusaristatin biosynthesis. In contrast, the up-regulated genes were found to be associated with amino acid transporters, sugar transporters, cysteine-rich proteins, and dehydrogenase. The enrichment and gene ontology (GO) analysis confirmed the importance of alterations in genes related to that physiological process by the gene counts in a single GO category up to 185, FDR values up to 4.73E-14 and 26.48 fold enrichments. It appears that B. megaterium prefers altering the expression profiles of genes involved with mycotoxin biosynthesis, primary metabolite and transmembrane transport, and oxidative stress when attacking F. graminearum. This study provides the first transcriptome-wide analysis of F. graminearum in response to B. megaterium treatment. Further studies could include transcriptomic crosstalk between Fusarium spp. versus Bacillus spp.