Authors: Rubylyn Mijan-Infante 1,2, Bikash Poudel 1,2, Jeff Maughan 3, and Jason D. Fiedler 2
1. North Dakota State University, Department of Plant Pathology, Fargo, ND
2. Cereals Crops Improvement Research Unit, Edward T. Schafer Agriculture Research Agriculture Research Center, USDA-ARS, Fargo, ND 58102 USA
3. Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA
Corresponding Author: Jason Fielder, jason.fiedler@usda.gov
Presenting Author: Rubylyn Infante
Poster Video:
Abstract
Hard spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production faces numerous challenges, including the threat of Fusarium head blight (FHB), also known as scab, caused by the fungal pathogen Fusarium graminearum Schwabe. FHB is a serious fungal disease of wheat spikes that severely reduces grain quality and leads to substantial yield losses. The Chinese wheat cultivar 'Sumai 3' has long been recognized for its strong resistance to FHB, primarily attributed to the Fhb1 gene located on chromosome 3B. Here, we generated a chromosome-scale assembly of the Sumai 3 genome, generated using PacBio HiFi reads and chromosome conformation capture (HiC). The assembly yielded a genome size of 14.6 Gb with a contig N50 of 41.9 Mb and a BUSCO completeness score of 99.7%. We identified 104,620 high-confidence protein-coding genes. Our analyses included centromeric and subtelomeric regions, transposable element (TE) distribution, high and non-coding gene density, and GC content across the genome. A Circos plot visually represents these genomic features, providing a comprehensive view of Sumai 3’s structural and functional landscape. Co-linearity analysis showed that Sumai 3 is mostly co-linear with the Chinese Spring genome, indicating high conservation in gene order. The region’s gene content largely overlaps with annotations for Chinese Spring, although we discovered two genes at approximately 157.7 kb, including additional copy of a terpene synthase, suggesting a similarity between Sumai 3’s 3B and Chinese Spring’s 3D in FHB-related gene content. This structural insight raises the possibility that chromosome 3D could be a source of FHB resistance. A heatmap of differential gene expression (DGE) in the Fhb1 region shows up-regulation of genes PFT, Sin, and PAP highlighting genes potentially involved in FHB resistance. This work advances our understanding of Sumai 3’s genomic landscape, aiding in breeding strategies for FHB resistance in wheat.