The wheat response to deoxynivalenol: Does maintenance of hormone homeostasis and alleviation of oxidative stress play an important role in toxin tolerance?

The Fusarium mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) is a potent inhibitor of eukaryotic protein synthesis and acts as a virulence factor during infection of wheat heads. Some wheat genotypes can tolerate DON and resist its deleterious effects; others cannot. Transcriptome studies identified several genes up-regulated in spikelets of the DON-resistant wheat cultivar CM82036 in response to DON treatment. We will discuss how the finding presented herein and other recent findings contribute to the hypothesis that management of hormone homeostasis and alleviation of oxidative stress in DON-challenged wheat might facilitate cell survival and thereby retard fungal colonisation.