Mutagenesis and analysis of contrasting wheat lines do not support a role for PFT in Fusarium head blight resistance

Abstract

Ambiguity about whether the histidine-rich calcium-binding protein-coding gene (His^R) or the pore-forming toxin-like gene (PFT) or both are responsible for Fusarium head blight (FHB) resistance conferred by the Fhb1 quantitative trait locus hinders progress toward elucidating Fhb1 resistance mechanisms. Here, with a series of developed lines with or without PFT but all possessing His^R and five His^R-carrying PFT mutant lines created via gene editing, we show that PFT does not confer FHB resistance and that the His^R resistance effect does not require PFT in the tested conditions. We also show that PFT mutations are not associated with morphological and phenological characteristics that often affect FHB severity.