Current status of seed-borne Fusarium of wheat in Iran and its effect involved in seedling resistance and biochemical indicators

Seed-borne fungal pathogens and diseases can reduce the physiological potential, yield, and quality of seeds. The aim of this study was to understanding the physiological, biochemical and molecular mechanisms involved in basal resistance of wheat against seed-borne Fusarium pathogens. Thus, the first step in this research was to identify seed-borne Fusarium species of Iranian wheat cultivars in pre-basic seeds wheat fields and also their effect on germination and vigor indices. Based on morphological and molecular characters were identified that belonged to two species, which included Fusarium graminearum and F. culmorum . Our results showed that seed infected by fusarium significantly affects germination and vigor indices and reduces seed quality. Accumulation of ROS (such as O 2 − , OH − and H 2 O 2 ) and malondialdehyde as a marker of lipid peroxidation contents in wheat seedlings obtained from infected seeds was higher than the non-infected seeds. Results indicated enzymatic antioxidants and also phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) and lipoxygenase (LOX) have been involved in physiological, biochemical, and defensive processes in wheat seedlings obtained from infected seeds. The activity of PAL enzyme as main marker of phenylpropanoid pathway in seedlings obtained from seeds infected by hemibiotrophic pathogen ( F. graminearum ) was higher than that of necrotrophic pathogen ( F. culmorum ). These results provide novel information about seed-borne Fusarium species and the role of signal transduction pathways in basal resistance of pre-basic seeds wheat fields that response patterns depend on the pathogen lifestyle and pathogenicity levels of seed-borne Fusarium isolates.