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PubMed2026

Bacterially produced dsRNA targeting SePGRP-LB reduces population fitness of Spodoptera exigua (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and increases its susceptibility to SeMNPV.

The beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is an important agricultural pest, and S. exigua multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (SeMNPV) is a host-specific biological control agent. However, baculovirus efficacy can be limited by host antiviral responses. S. exigua peptidoglycan recognition protein LB (SePGRP-LB) has been identified as an antiviral immune factor, suggesting that its suppression may increase larval susceptibility to SeMNPV. In this study, bacterially produced double-stranded RNA targeting SePGRP-LB (bac-dsPGRP-LB) was orally delivered to larvae to induce RNA interference. Feeding bac-dsPGRP-LB reduced SePGRP-LB transcript levels by 24.0% to 65.7% over 7 d. SePGRP-LB knockdown prolonged fifth-instar larval development, reduced female pupal weight, shortened male adult longevity and the oviposition period, and decreased fecundity by approximately 51%. Life table analysis further showed significant reductions in the intrinsic rate of increase (r), finite rate of increase (λ), and net reproductive rate (R0) following bac-dsPGRP-LB treatment. During SeMNPV infection, co-feeding with bac-dsPGRP-LB significantly suppressed SePGRP-LB expression, increased the SeMNPV genomic load, and reduced larval survival compared with the SeMNPV + bac-dsGFP treatment. These findings identify SePGRP-LB as a promising RNAi target for simultaneously reducing S. exigua fitness and enhancing its susceptibility to SeMNPV under laboratory conditions.

SePGRP-LB↗

PubMed2026

Reference genome of the Californian trapdoor spider Aptostichus stephencolberti Bond 2008 (Araneae: Mygalomorphae: Euctenizidae).

We present a reference genome assembly for the trapdoor spider Aptostichus stephencolberti. This species, described in 2008, is endemic to the highly fragmented coastal dune habitats of Northern California from Monterey to the San Francisco Bay Area. Trapdoor spiders are ideal taxa for landscape scale genomic studies owing to their extreme site fidelity and limited dispersal capabilities; these same characteristics make them prone to extinction. Genomic studies of species like A. stephencolberti can reveal novel areas of endemism and high conservation value that may not be evident in species with wider ranges and greater dispersal capabilities. As part of the California Conservation Genomics Project, we constructed the A. stephencolberti reference genome from high quality long-read sequences, scaffolded with proximity ligation Omni-C data. The primary assembly comprises 551 scaffolds spanning 3.63 Gbp, a scaffold N50 of 62.2 Mbp and BUSCO completeness of 95.6%. We estimate 52 chromosomes yet find no (TTAGG)n telomer repeats. Expanding the telomeric repeat search finds an ancestral loss of the repeat from all spiders. Automated annotation using the NCBI refseq pipeline and RNAseq data from whole adults finds 14,067 genes with a BUSCO annotation completeness of 95.56%. Repeat annotation identified 77% of the genome to be interspersed repeats. This resource, the first for family Euctenizidae will facilitate future study and resulting conservation actions of A. stephencolberti and other Aptostichus sp. populations associated with the rapidly changing California coastal dune ecosystem.

Aptostichus stephencolberti↗

PubMed2026

Genetic risk stratification of common diseases in breast cancer survivors: a population-based cohort study.

IMPORTANCE: Patients diagnosed with breast cancer (BCa) are at increased risk of multiple common diseases; however, the spectrum of these diseases and the contribution of inherited genetic susceptibility remain incompletely characterized. METHODS: We evaluated 15 common diseases and tested their associations with BCa exposure and disease-specific polygenic risk scores (PRS) in the UK Biobank (UKB; N = 254,736). Analyses were performed using cause-specific Cox proportional hazards models within a full-cohort framework, with time-updated BCa status, delayed entry at study recruitment, and age as the underlying time scale. RESULTS: After recruitment, incident BCa was diagnosed in 11,386 women (4.47%), including 2,742 (24.08%) with metastatic BCa. Patients with BCa had an increased risk of nine diseases spanning cardiovascular, metabolic, and neuropsychiatric domains (P<0.003, Bonferroni-corrected). Elevated risks were generally observed among patients with both early staged and advanced BCa. Inherited susceptibility further stratified disease risk, with the highest risks observed among patients with BCa with elevated disease-specific PRS. For example, compared with women without BCa, the hazard ratio (HR; 95% CI) for osteoporosis was 2.33 (2.15-2.52) among women with any BCa, 2.38 (2.18-2.59) among those with non-metastatic BCa, and 2.12 (1.78-2.54) among those with metastatic BCa; the HR was 4.48 (3.99-5.02) among patients with BCa in the highest quartile of osteoporosis-specific PRS (all P<0.001). In contrast, BCa was not significantly associated with risk of coronary artery disease. CONCLUSION: BCa and inherited genetic susceptibility jointly contribute to increased risk of multiple common diseases, supporting the integration of genetic risk stratification into survivorship care.

Complications↗

PubMed2026

Mutation of a stromal C-terminal threonine residue of Photosystem II subunit S slows down NPQ induction and speeds up relaxation.

In order to prevent damage by excess light, light harvesting antennae can switch to an energy dissipative mode (termed non-photochemical quenching, NPQ). In higher plants, this switch is facilitated by the presence of Photosystem II subunit S (PsbS) protein, which was discovered 25 years ago. While the role of PsbS in induction of NPQ was soon found to require protonation of key glutamate residues facing the thylakoid lumen, a complete understanding of how NPQ is subsequently initiated is still lacking. Recent work on Norway spruce suggests that reversible phosphorylation at a few conserved residues of PsbS may affect its role in regulation of NPQ. Here we assessed PsbS phosphorylation changes in Arabidopsis thaliana plants, but these remained undetectable under control and combined chilling and high light stress conditions. We therefore used a genetic approach to assess potential functional implications of phosphorylation at threonine-259 (T259). Functional evaluation of point mutations at T259 in the background of PsbS knock-out mutant npq4 showed that neither phosphomimetic, phosphosubstitution, nor phosphonull substitutions could rescue NPQ activity to the level of the unperturbed protein, inconsistent with regulation via reversible phosphorylation. Instead, all residue substitutions at T259 gave rise to significantly impaired induction and accelerated NPQ recovery, while protein accumulation and thylakoid membrane localisation were not affected. We suggest that these results point to a role for the C-terminus in the propensity or stability of hydrophobic interactions between PsbS and LHCII antenna proteins to initiate the quenched state.

Photosystem II subunit S↗

PubMed2026

Haplotype-specific expression of a terpene synthase underlies linalool variation in the grapevine cultivar Riesling.

Grapevine cultivars vary widely in monoterpenoid content, yet the genetic and regulatory mechanisms underlying this variation remain poorly characterized beyond highly aromatic Muscat types. We profiled free volatiles and monoterpenoid glycosides in a Riesling × Cabernet Sauvignon F1 mapping population, revealing extensive variation and transgressive segregation consistent with multigenic control. QTL mapping identified 70 significant loci associated with 48 volatile compounds and monoterpene glycosides, including two major QTLs explaining 33.6% and 33.4% of phenotypic variance in (3S)-linalool accumulation. Integration of haplotype-resolved transcriptomics with metabolite data, enabled by a chromosome-scale diploid Riesling genome assembly, resolved a (3S)-linalool/nerolidol synthase cluster on chromosome 10 and identified VviTPS54 as the strongest candidate underlying linalool variation. VviTPS54 exhibited haplotype-specific expression strongly correlated with (3S)-linalool accumulation across genotypes, while no QTL was detected at the 1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate synthase 1 (VviDXS1) locus previously identified in Muscat cultivars. In addition, VviDXS1 expression was not correlated with terpene levels, indicating that regulatory variation within terpene synthase clusters, rather than methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathway flux, drives monoterpenoid composition in this population. These results establish regulatory variation of terpene synthases as a key mechanism underlying monoterpenoid diversity in grapevine and demonstrate that resolving such variation requires haplotype-phased genome assemblies coupled with haplotype-resolved transcriptomics to detect allele-specific expression differences at complex, heterozygous loci.

Grapevine↗

PubMed2026

The R2R3-MYB transcription factor ScMYB20 negatively regulates drought and salt tolerance through a dual-repression of ScCHALCONE SYNTHASE-1 (ScCHS1)-mediated flavonoid biosynthesis in the desert moss Syntrichia caninervis.

The desert moss Syntrichia caninervis is one of the most desiccation-tolerant land plants known and provides a powerful system for dissecting the molecular foundations of extreme stress adaptation in early-diverging land lineages. The MYB transcription factor superfamily orchestrates secondary metabolism and stress signaling across plants, yet its lineage-specific evolution and mechanistic deployment in bryophytes remain poorly understood. Here, we identified 65 ScMYB genes in the S. caninervis genome and showed that the family expanded predominantly through dispersed duplication, with no detectable synteny to vascular-plant MYBs, indicating bryophyte-specific neo-functionalization. Integrating phylogenetic clustering, cis-element architecture and stress-responsive expression profiling, we pinpointed ScMYB20, a nuclear-localized, S13-subgroup R2R3-MYB that is rapidly and strongly induced by dehydration and salinity. Heterologous overexpression in Arabidopsis, together with overexpression and RNAi in S. caninervis, demonstrated that ScMYB20 negatively regulates drought and salt tolerance by suppressing antioxidant capacity, osmotic adjustment and photosynthetic performance, while concomitantly elevating ROS and MDA accumulation. Mechanistically, ScMYB20 directly binds a TAACCA motif in the ScCHS1 promoter to repress its transcription, and simultaneously sequesters the WD40 protein ScTTG1, a positive transcriptional activator of ScCHS1, thereby antagonising ScTTG1-mediated activation. Transient ScCHS1 overexpression restored flavonoid accumulation, antioxidant capacity and stress tolerance. Together, our findings define a dual-repression module (ScMYB20-ScTTG1-ScCHS1) that fine-tunes flavonoid flux under abiotic stress, and provide evolutionary and mechanistic insights into how R2R3-MYB repressors evolved to balance metabolic investment and stress survival in land plants.

Syntrichia caninervis↗

PubMed2026

Developmental roles of LSD1/KDM1A-like (LDL) proteins in plants.

LYSINE-SPECIFIC DEMETHYLASE 1-like (LDL) proteins are conserved FAD-dependent amine oxidases that serve as pivotal regulators in plants. While animal systems typically rely on a single LSD1/KDM1A enzyme, the Arabidopsis thaliana genome encodes an expanded family of LDL homologues (FLD, LDL1, LDL2, and LDL3), resulting in substantial subfunctionalization and specialized recruitment mechanisms. This review explores the diverse developmental roles of plant LDLs, ranging from flowering time and circadian clock regulation to heterochromatin maintenance and epigenetic regulation. We discuss the redundant roles of FLD, LDL1, and LDL2 in repressing the floral repressor FLC and their nonredundant specialized function within the CCA1/LHY-TOC1 circadian feedback loop. A central focus of our review is the emerging mechanism of transcription-coupled demethylation, in which LDLs associate with the phosphorylated C-terminal domain of RNA polymerase II to modify chromatin cotranscriptionally within gene bodies. By integrating findings from Arabidopsis thaliana and crops such as tomato and soybean, we illustrate how the diversified LDL-mediated regulatory toolkit facilitates precise, gene-specific regulation. Ultimately, the LDL family represents a cornerstone of the sophisticated epigenetic strategies that regulate plant phenotypic plasticity in response to developmental and environmental cues.

Circadian clock↗

PubMed2026

Impaired adaptation to smoke-derived phenolic compounds in Listeria monocytogenes CC204 from smoked salmon and trout.

Listeria monocytogenes is a major foodborne pathogen in ready-to-eat smoked fish products. This study evaluated whether clonal complex affiliation contributes to variability in growth responses to stresses representative of smoked salmon and trout processing. Ten strains were studied, including strains from CC121, CC26 and CC204, the three major clonal complexes reported in the French smoked salmon and trout sectors, together with the EGDe reference strain. Strains were exposed to salt, cold, smoke-derived phenolic compounds and combined stress conditions. Growth responses were compared with whole-genome-based phylogeny, and the impaired phenotype observed under phenolic exposure was further investigated using viable counts, live/dead microscopy and comparative genomics. Growth profiles were partly structured by clonal complex, with strains from the same clonal complex showing similar behaviour across stress conditions. Salt and cold reduced growth globally, while smoke-derived phenolic compounds were the most discriminating conditions. CC204 strains showed markedly lower growth rates under phenolic exposure than CC121, CC26 and EGDe. This phenotype was not associated with loss of cultivability or significant loss of membrane integrity. Comparative genomics did not identify a clear gene-content determinant explaining the CC204 phenotype. These results suggest that CC204 has an impaired adaptive response to smoke-derived compounds, likely involving regulatory or physiological mechanisms.

Listeria monocytogenes↗

PubMed2026

Ambrosia beetle invasions are structured by inbreeding, intraspecific hybridisation, and bridgeheads.

When invasive populations establish in regions far from their origin, they may accumulate deleterious mutations that limit population viability and later expansion. Invasions stemming from such bridgehead populations may experience further sequential bottlenecks. However, deleterious mutations can be masked or eliminated when populations outbreed with other lineages. Here, we analyse global invasions of a species complex of persistently inbreeding ambrosia beetles, using genomic data (N=247) from invasive populations in Africa, North America and Australia, and from native populations in Asia. We mostly focus on one species of this complex (Euwallacea fornicatus) which poses a severe threat to tree species worldwide and is rapidly expanding its global range. We uncover a single lineage of this species across California, South Africa, and Western Australia, involving an invasive bridgehead and containing almost no nuclear genetic variation. In South Africa we identify a second lineage that has repeatedly hybridised with the first lineage. Genetic patterns in the native range indicate that such opportunistic outbreeding may be common. Despite lacking nuclear variation, the first lineage contained two CO1 haplotypes that were also observed in every hybrid lineage, pointing to heteroplasmy and possible hybrid origins of this lineage. Native populations had fewer missense mutations than invasive populations, indicating that opportunistic outbreeding may help purge fixed deleterious mutations when local lineage diversity is high. These findings highlight the importance of outbreeding even when inbreeding is common, and they demonstrate the biosecurity threat posed by subsequent gene flow into invasive populations.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2026

Evolutionary diversification of invertase paralogs couples carbon metabolism and sexual reproduction in fission yeasts.

Dynamic patterns of gene gain and loss play a major role in the diversification of eukaryotes, reflecting adaptation to a broad range of ecological contexts. Reconstructing the evolutionary history of genes provides a powerful framework for understanding how functional innovation shapes life-history traits. Here we report a comprehensive analysis of gene gain and loss across the fission yeast clade, whose evolutionary trajectory remains elusive. Reductive evolution of metabolic genes is a major contributor to species diversification, as observed in other fungal taxa. Notably, we uncovered an evolutionary scenario in which an ancestral gene duplication was followed by lineage-specific loss of one or the other paralog, except in S. pombe, which retained both. We demonstrate that these paralogs encode catalytically-active invertases, named Inv1 and Inv2, with distinct enzymatic properties, localization, regulation, and physiological roles. Inv1 is a secreted enzyme subject to glucose catabolite repression and is the sole invertase required for sucrose assimilation, resembling canonical yeast invertases. In contrast, Inv2 is intracellular, constitutively expressed, and required for inducing sexual differentiation in response to nutrient availability. Overall, these findings reveal an unexpected role for carbon metabolism in modulating the haploid-diploid cycle of fission yeasts, suggesting that diversification of core metabolic functions may contribute to adaptation to environments with distinct sugar compositions.

Evolution↗

PubMed2026

LAMBDA: a prophage detection benchmark for genomic language models.

Transformer-based genomic sequence models represent an emerging frontier in computational biology. Yet, their embeddings have not yet shown the same level of predictive power as natural and protein language models, highlighting a gap between current implementations and theoretical promise. Existing benchmarks for DNA language models primarily focus on classifying regulatory elements in eukaryotic genomes, leaving open the fundamental question of whether these models learn sequence-level features across whole genomes. We introduce LAMBDA, a benchmark designed to rigorously evaluate genome language model embeddings through phage-bacteria sequence discrimination across four categories of increasing complexity: probing tasks, fine-tuning assessments, diagnostic tests, and genome-wide prophage detection. Our comprehensive analysis of current genomic language models provides insight into the importance of training data selection relative to model size, the need for domain-specific training, and the capabilities and limitations of genomic language models for detecting prophage sequences. This benchmark represents a challenging genomic annotation task in the bacterial domain and addresses a key computational problem with direct relevance to microbiology and medicine.

Prophages↗

PubMed2026

VicMAG, an open-source tool for visualizing circular metagenome-assembled genomes highlighting bacterial virulence and antimicrobial resistance.

Bacterial pathogens spread in clinical and environmental settings, and mobile genetic elements (MGEs), such as plasmids and phages, mediate the transfer of virulence factor genes (VFGs) and antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) among bacterial communities. Metagenomic analysis of environmental and wastewater samples using highly accurate long-read sequencing technologies, such as Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) HiFi sequencing, provides valuable insights into monitoring the regional spread of VFGs and ARGs, including dissemination mediated by MGEs. No visualization tool is currently available for the comprehensive display of numerous resulting circular metagenome-assembled genomes (cMAGs) with functional gene annotations. Here, we developed visualization of circular metagenome-assembled genome (VicMAG), a visualization tool for highly complex cMAGs derived from long-read metagenome assemblies annotated using updated databases of VFGs, ARGs, and MGEs. Using 353 cMAGs from PacBio HiFi sequencing of a wastewater sample, we demonstrated the utility of VicMAG for metagenome visualization. VicMAG provides comprehensive, size-aware visualization of cMAGs representing bacterial chromosomes and plasmids, annotated with VFGs, ARGs, and phages. By simultaneously visualizing all cMAGs in a framework, VicMAG facilitates a holistic understanding of the distribution and genomic context of VFGs and ARGs across complex microbial communities. This tool supports integrated surveillance of bacteria associated with virulence and antimicrobial resistance across clinical, environmental, and One Health contexts.

Metagenome↗

PubMed2026

Identifying fundamental gaps in functional metagenomics: a step towards unlocking microbiome research potential.

Incomplete functional annotation limits biological interpretation in microbiome studies and their translational potential. Poor annotation arises from multiple causes, with incomplete gene-protein-reaction mapping being one tractable yet under-examined contributor. We address this gap by developing a comprehensive hierarchical framework that systematically integrates gene families in UniRef, proteins in UniProt, and metabolic reactions in MetaCyc and BioCyc through UniProtKB accession, EC number, and Pfam-domain matching. Applied to a human gut metagenome dataset via HUMAnN3, our MetaCyc-based mapping recovers up to 2.3-fold more unique reaction identifiers than the default pipeline and increases reaction prevalence across samples from ≈32% to 52% core reactions, addressing the data sparsity that limits statistical and machine-learning applications in microbiome research. Biological plausibility for the tested functions was supported by positive and negative controls: gut-microbial hormone-metabolism reactions previously linked to this dataset were recovered, while vertebrate-specific hormone-metabolism reactions remained correctly undetected. These gains derive from systematic database integration alone, without predictive algorithms, indicating that a tractable, mapping-related component of functional dark matter and data sparsity in microbiome studies is directly addressable. Because Pfam- and BioCyc-derived mappings trade specificity for coverage, confidence in any individual reaction assignment depends on the supporting evidence tier and source database.

Humans↗

PubMed2026

Interferon-driven gene signature identifies two distinct subgroups in rheumatoid factor-positive polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the demographic, clinical, serological, genetic background, course and value of the interferon (IFN)-score in a cohort of patients with rheumatoid factor (RF)-positive polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (pJIA). METHODS: Monocentric retrospective study of patients with RF-positive pJIA. Demographic, clinical and laboratory data were collected. The IFN-score was calculated based on the expression levels of 24 IFN stimulated genes. Whole exome sequencing was performed in 22 patients. RESULTS: Thirty-two patients were included. The IFN score was positive in 18 patients (56.2%) and negative in 14 patients (43.7%). An increased IFN score was associated with a significantly higher family history of autoimmunity (p = 0.0004), parental first-degree consanguinity (p = 0.05) and prevalence of antibodies to anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (ACPA) (p = 0.01). Three patients with interstitial lung disease exhibited a positive IFN score. Conversely, demographic features and characteristics of polyarthritis did not differ between the two groups. Clinically inactive disease was achieved in 21/32 (66%) patients, with no significant difference according to the IFN score. Remission was never achieved with methotrexate alone. We identified one patient with a pathogenic de novo mutation in COPA. Additionally, ultra-rare variants in genes related to IFN and/or innate immunity were found in 21/22 (95.5%) patients. CONCLUSION: The IFN signature identified two distinct subgroups in RF-positive pJIA according to family history and immunological features. Our study suggests that patients with an elevated IFN score should be screened for pulmonary involvement. Future prospective studies are required to validate the use of the IFN score as a biomarker in RF-positive pJIA.

Rheumatoid factor↗

PubMed2026

Parent-of-origin effects on allelic expression bias in interspecific poplar hybrids.

In hybrid plants, phenotypic outcomes are governed by interactions between the two parental genomes. However, the mechanisms underlying the interplay of divergent regulatory networks from these genomes remain poorly understood. In this study, we compared gene-level and allele-specific expression patterns, as well as differentially enriched pathways between F₁ and complex backcross (CBC) lines derived from a natural interspecific hybrid population of Populus fremontii (Pf) and P. angustifolia (Pa). Metabolic differences between Pf and Pa which exhibit low and high levels respectively of phenylpropanoid-derived condensed tannins were leveraged. Using individualized transcriptome references, differential expression and clustering analyses revealed CBC-biased and F₁-biased expression for genes involved in phenylpropanoid metabolism and photosynthesis, respectively. Biased expression of these genes at the allele level was also observed in F1. At the whole-transcriptome level, Pa-biased genes predominated in F₁ hybrids, and Pa alleles displayed more conserved expression patterns than Pf alleles across examined samples. Further analyses indicated that allelic expression bias was significantly associated with parental origin, which could be driven by sequence variations in cis-regulatory elements and differences in CpG island length. Our findings demonstrate strong parent-of-origin effects on divergent regulatory networks governing gene expression in poplar hybrids and provide clues for strategic parental selection tailored to specific metabolic pathways of interest.

cis-regulation↗

PubMed2026

Host Range and Chemical Control of Cercospora citrullina, the Causal Agent of Watermelon Spot Disease.

This study systematically evaluated cultivation requirements, host range, and chemical control options for Cercospora citrullina causing watermelon spot disease. Among 11 chemically defined media tested, corn meal agar medium supported optimal mycelial growth of C. citrullina, with an average radial growth rate of 56.72 ± 1.45 mm under controlled conditions (25°C, darkness). Host range determination via artificial inoculation of 19 plant species confirmed that the host range of the strain UNL090101 is limited to the Cucurbitaceae species tested, with watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) exhibiting the highest susceptibility, followed by melon (Cucumis melo) and cucumber (Cucumis sativus). Fungicide screening of 17 commercial formulations identified 40% iminoctadine tris (albesilate) WP (EC50 = 2.82 μg·liter-1) and 64% mancozeb + 8% cymoxanil (WS) (EC50 = 48.75 μg·liter-1) as the most effective treatments, achieving control efficacies of 74.47 and 58.62%, respectively. These findings provide actionable guidelines for optimizing crop rotation, intercropping strategies, and fungicide selection in watermelon production systems.

Cercospora citrullina↗

PubMed2026

Novel Genomic Regions Associated with Multifungicide Resistance in Botrytis cinerea and Factors Impacting Greenhouse Population Structure.

The fungal plant pathogen Botrytis cinerea affects hundreds of valuable crops, including fruits, vegetables, and ornamental plants. In greenhouse production systems, B. cinerea disease management largely depends on the use of fungicides; however, the emergence of resistance to multiple fungicide classes has become a major challenge. An improved understanding of B. cinerea populations can contribute to the development of resistance management strategies. In this study, isolates (n = 276) of B. cinerea were collected from ornamental production greenhouses in Michigan, and whole-genome resequencing was performed to evaluate genetic differentiation among hosts, locations, growing cycles, and fungicide resistance. Discriminant analyses of principal components and analyses of molecular variance revealed limited genetic differentiation among isolates from different hosts, greenhouses, and years of isolate collection. In contrast, the same analyses alongside pairwise fixation indexes and an evaluation of population structure indicated significant genetic differentiation among isolates based on the number of fungicides to which they are resistant. There are two described mechanisms that confer resistance to multiple fungicides at the same time, both of which are mediated by efflux pumps. Results from a quantitative trait genome-wide association study revealed novel genomic regions associated with multifungicide resistance, including two genes that encode putative efflux pumps. An understanding of fungicide resistance patterns is essential for developing durable disease control measures. Our results highlight the importance of continued monitoring of B. cinerea populations, as the observed genetic differentiation linked to fungicide resistance emphasizes their ability to adapt to selection pressure.

Botrytis cinerea↗

PubMed2026

Integrated Genomics and Transcriptomics Reveal Stable Resistance Loci and Candidate Genes for Powdery Mildew in Wheat.

Powdery mildew, caused by Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici (Bgt), poses a substantial threat to global wheat production. Enhancing resistance through molecular breeding necessitates a comprehensive understanding of its genetic and molecular underpinnings. This study leveraged a 2-year phenotypic evaluation of 283 diverse wheat accessions combined with genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to pinpoint stable quantitative trait loci for powdery mildew resistance. We identified 52 robust resistance loci across the wheat genome, including seven novel loci consistently detected across four environments. Comparative transcriptome profiling of resistant and susceptible wheat lines revealed 95 differentially expressed genes, predominantly enriched in defense response, signal transduction, and transcription regulation pathways. By integrating the GWAS and transcriptomic data, we precisely identified three compelling candidate genes (TaPIP5K, TaPKG, and TaORR6) on chromosome 2A, which are implicated in cell wall reinforcement, jasmonic acid signaling, and reactive oxygen species scavenging, respectively. Further validation using expression analysis corroborated their pivotal roles in resistance. Our findings provide a rich repository of validated genetic markers, promising candidate genes, and superior resistant germplasms, offering critical resources to accelerate targeted molecular breeding efforts for durable powdery mildew resistance in wheat.

Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici↗