ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Pathogen Interactions
Transcriptomic Profiling of Wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.) Response to Infection by The Wheat Blast Fungus Magnaporthe Oryzae Triticum
Xue Lyu 1,2,3
Chen Ji 4
Guo Guanghao 5
Wu Yu 1
Xia Yan 3
He Zhao 3
1. Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Chengdu, China
2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
3. Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich, United Kingdom
4. John Innes Centre Department of Crop Genetics, Norwich, United Kingdom
5. Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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Abstract
The wheat blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae pathotype Triticum (MoT) poses a severe threat to global wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production, yet the molecular mechanisms underlying tissue invasion remain poorly understood. Here, we performed dual RNA-seq analysis of MoT-inoculated wheat leaves at 0, 24, 36, and 48 hpi, mapping reads separately to the wheat and MoT genomes to capture stage-specific host responses and pathogen gene expression across progressive infection stages. Wheat exhibited pronounced stage-specific transcriptional reprogramming, with peak differential gene expression at 36 hpi and visible symptoms at 48 hpi. The 24 hpi stage was characterized by rapid induction of immune-and defense-related pathways, including innate immunity and detoxification processes, along with downregulation of cell wall and membrane biosynthesis. By 36 hpi, wheat maintained sustained activation of immune and detoxification pathways, while chloroplast-and photosynthesis-associated genes were broadly repressed, consistent with transcriptional features of metabolic constraint. At 48 hpi, coinciding with lesion initiation, transcriptomes showed persistent, metabolically costly immune and defense responses together with extensive suppression of photosynthesis-and chloroplast-associated functions, which were associated with metabolic strain and a transition toward necrosis. Analysis of pathogen-derived reads revealed temporal induction of multiple effector candidates, including known M. oryzae orthologs and additional effector-like proteins, highlighting coordinated temporal patterns between host immune and metabolic response as well as stage-specific pathogen effector expression. Together, these findings provide a temporal framework for wheat blast susceptibility and highlight key host pathways and effector candidates that define critical windows for functional dissection of MoT virulence and wheat susceptibility.
Summary
Keywords
Effector candidates5, Host susceptibility4, Magnaporthe oryzae1, Triticum aestivum L.2, Wheat blast3
Received
28 December 2025
Accepted
17 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Lyu, Ji, Guanghao, Yu, Yan and Zhao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Wu Yu; Xia Yan; He Zhao
Disclaimer
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