Genomic surveillance uncovers a pandemic clonal lineage of the wheat blast fungus.

Wheat, one of the most important food crops, is threatened by a blast disease pandemic. Here, we show that a clonal lineage of the wheat blast fungus recently spread to Asia and Africa following two independent introductions from South America. Through a combination of genome analyses and laboratory experiments, we show that the decade-old blast pandemic lineage can be controlled by the Rmg8 disease resistance gene and is sensitive to strobilurin fungicides. However, we also highlight the potential of the pandemic clone to evolve fungicide-insensitive variants and sexually recombine with African lineages. This underscores the urgent need for genomic surveillance to track and mitigate the spread of wheat blast outside of South America and to guide preemptive wheat breeding for blast resistance.

Correction: Genomic surveillance uncovers a pandemic clonal lineage of the wheat blast fungus.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002052.].

Natural Protein Kinase Inhibitors, Staurosporine, and Chelerythrine Suppress Wheat Blast Disease Caused by Magnaporthe oryzae Triticum.

Protein kinases (PKs), being key regulatory enzymes of a wide range of signaling pathways, are potential targets for antifungal agents. Wheat blast disease, caused by Magnaporthe oryzae Triticum (MoT), is an existential threat to world food security. During the screening process of natural metabolites against MoT fungus, we find that two protein kinase inhibitors, staurosporine and chelerythrine chloride, remarkably inhibit MoT hyphal growth. This study further investigates the effects of staurosporine and chelerythrine chloride on MoT hyphal growth, conidia production, and development as well as wheat blast inhibition in comparison to a commercial fungicide, Nativo®75WG. The growth of MoT mycelia is significantly inhibited by these compounds in a dose-dependent manner. These natural compounds greatly reduce conidia production in MoT mycelia along with suppression of conidial germination and triggered lysis, resulting in deformed germ tubes and appressoria. These metabolites greatly suppress blast development in artificially inoculated wheat plants in the field. This is the first report of the antagonistic effect of these two natural PKC inhibitory alkaloids on MoT fungal developmental processes in vitro and suppression of wheat blast disease on both leaves and spikes in vivo. Further research is needed to identify their precise mechanism of action to consider them as biopesticides or lead compounds for controlling wheat blast.

Bonactin and Feigrisolide C Inhibit Magnaporthe oryzae Triticum Fungus and Control Wheat Blast Disease.

Wheat blast caused by the Magnaporthe oryzaeTriticum (MoT) pathotype is one of the most damaging fungal diseases of wheat. During the screening of novel bioactive secondary metabolites, we observed two marine secondary metabolites, bonactin and feigrisolide C, extracted from the marine bacteria Streptomyces spp. (Act 8970 and ACT 7619), remarkably inhibited the hyphal growth of an MoT isolate BTJP 4 (5) in vitro. In a further study, we found that bonactin and feigrisolide C reduced the mycelial growth of this highly pathogenic isolate in a dose-dependent manner. Bonactin inhibited the mycelial development of BTJP 4 (5) more effectively than feigrisolide C, with minimal concentrations for inhibition being 0.005 and 0.025 µg/disk, respectively. In a potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium, these marine natural products greatly reduced conidia production in the mycelia. Further bioassays demonstrated that these secondary metabolites could inhibit the MoT conidia germination, triggered lysis, or conidia germinated with abnormally long branched germ tubes that formed atypical appressoria (low melanization) of BTJP 4 (5). Application of these natural products in a field experiment significantly protected wheat from blast disease and increased grain yield compared to the untreated control. As far as we are aware, this is the first report of bonactin and feigrisolide C that inhibited mycelial development, conidia production, conidial germination, and morphological modifications in the germinated conidia of an MoT isolate and suppressed wheat blast disease in vivo. To recommend these compounds as lead compounds or biopesticides for managing wheat blast, more research is needed with additional MoT isolates to identify their exact mode of action and efficacy of disease control in diverse field conditions.

Marine Natural Product Antimycin A Suppresses Wheat Blast Disease Caused by Magnaporthe oryzae Triticum.

The application of chemical pesticides to protect agricultural crops from pests and diseases is discouraged due to their harmful effects on humans and the environment. Therefore, alternative approaches for crop protection through microbial or microbe-originated pesticides have been gaining momentum. Wheat blast is a destructive fungal disease caused by the Magnaporthe oryzae Triticum (MoT) pathotype, which poses a serious threat to global food security. Screening of secondary metabolites against MoT revealed that antimycin A isolated from a marine Streptomyces sp. had a significant inhibitory effect on mycelial growth in vitro. This study aimed to investigate the inhibitory effects of antimycin A on some critical life stages of MoT and evaluate the efficacy of wheat blast disease control using this natural product. A bioassay indicated that antimycin A suppressed mycelial growth (62.90%), conidiogenesis (100%), germination of conidia (42%), and the formation of appressoria in the germinated conidia (100%) of MoT at a 10 µg/mL concentration. Antimycin A suppressed MoT in a dose-dependent manner with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 0.005 µg/disk. If germinated, antimycin A induced abnormal germ tubes (4.8%) and suppressed the formation of appressoria. Interestingly, the application of antimycin A significantly suppressed wheat blast disease in both the seedling (100%) and heading stages (76.33%) of wheat at a 10 µg/mL concentration, supporting the results from in vitro study. This is the first report on the inhibition of mycelial growth, conidiogenesis, conidia germination, and detrimental morphological alterations in germinated conidia, and the suppression of wheat blast disease caused by a Triticum pathotype of M. Oryzae by antimycin A. Further study is required to unravel the precise mode of action of this promising natural compound for considering it as a biopesticide to combat wheat blast.