Journal article
From pathogen to pathobiome: Rethinking helminthosporium leaf blight resistance in wheat
Current plant biology, Vol.49, 100650
2026
Abstract
Helminthosporium leaf blight (HLB) of wheat is an increasingly important foliar disease complex prevalent in warm and humid production environments, caused by different combinations of multiple necrotrophic fungi, primarily Bipolaris sorokiniana, Pyrenophora tritici-repentis, and Alternaria triticina. Unlike classical single-pathogen systems, HLB represents a dynamic, multi-pathogen pathosystem characterized by frequent co-infection, overlapping symptoms and shared infection niches, complicating diagnosis and resistance breeding. This review synthesizes current knowledge on pathogen diversity, epidemiology, and host–pathogen interactions, with emphasis on necrotrophic effector–host sensitivity gene interactions operating under the inverse gene–for-gene model and their interplay with polygenic resistance mechanisms. Advances in QTL mapping, genome-wide association studies, and meta-QTL analyses are critically evaluated alongside emerging insights into effector diversity, virulence evolution, and genomic plasticity. Advances in molecular diagnostics, high-throughput phenotyping, and artificial intelligence-assisted disease detection are also discussed in the context of improving pathogen identification and trait resolution. Recent advances in pangenomics further provide a population-level perspective on pathogen and host diversity, highlighting the role of accessory genomes, effector variability and structural variation in shaping disease outcomes and resistance architecture. We propose a unified framework in which durable resistance is achieved by minimizing effector-triggered susceptibility while enhancing polygenic resistance. Future breeding strategies should integrate susceptibility gene management, pyramiding of stable resistance loci, and genomics-assisted selection to develop wheat cultivars with broad-spectrum, durable resistance against this multi-pathogen disease system.
Details
- Title
- From pathogen to pathobiome: Rethinking helminthosporium leaf blight resistance in wheat
- Authors/Creators
- Mukesh Rathore - Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of KashmirNikita Aggarwal - Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of KashmirFarkhandah Jan - Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of KashmirRaheeba Tun Nisa - Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of KashmirMehnaz Shakeel - Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of KashmirMohd Anwar Khan - Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of KashmirMohd Ashraf Bhat - Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of KashmirXinyao He - Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz Y TrigoFatima Naim - Curtin UniversityPawan K. Singh - Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz Y TrigoReyazul Rouf Mir - Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir
- Publication Details
- Current plant biology, Vol.49, 100650
- Publisher
- Elsevier B.V.
- Identifiers
- 991005912901207891
- Copyright
- © 2026 Published by Elsevier B.V.
- Murdoch Affiliation
- Food Futures Institute
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
Metrics
1 Record Views