Abstract
RNA interference (RNAi) technology has been widely used to protect plants from pests and diseases. Fusarium graminearum causes Fusarium head blight (FHB) in wheat and barley, which not only results in grain yield losses but also threatens food safety due to mycotoxin contamination of grains. F. graminearum trichothecene ( TRI) genes are required for trichothecene biosynthesis. Our recent study showed that TRI5 is critical for NX trichothecene production during F. graminearum infection of barley heads. To reduce mycotoxin contamination and disease using RNAi, we generated a hairpin construct targeting the TRI5 gene and introduced it into the NX-producing F. graminearum strain NRRL44211. Compared with 44211, TRI5 RNAi mutants had significantly reduced TRI5 expression and NX toxin production in vitro. Barley heads inoculated with TRI5 RNAi mutants or 44211 showed similar disease levels; however, barley heads inoculated with TRI5 RNAi mutants had significantly reduced NX toxin compared with 44211-inoculated heads. Therefore, a plant RNAi vector targeting the same TRI5 RNAi region was generated and introduced into the barley cultivar Golden Promise. FHB virulence assays showed that both FHB severity and NX-3 were significantly reduced in TRI5 RNAi transgenic lines compared with controls. Small RNA (sRNA) sequencing of both F. graminearum TRI5 RNAi mutants and barley TRI5 RNAi lines revealed sRNA reads that mapped to the TRI5 sequence, and the sRNA mapping patterns were remarkably similar in Fusarium and barley. Our results indicate that TRI5 can serve as an effective RNAi target to reduce mycotoxin contamination and improve food safety. [Formula: see text] Copyright © 2026 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license .
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Claims 7
Claim · model-written summary
TRI5 RNAi mutants had significantly reduced TRI5 expression and NX toxin production in vitro compared with 44211.
- Taxon
- Fusarium graminearum
_on_Corn_(Zea_mays)_at_Waimea%2C_Hawaii.jpg?width=60)
Fusarium graminearumt0 - Material
- TRI5 RNAi mutantse0
- Gene
- TRI5e0
- Outcome
- TRI5 expression and NX toxin productione0
- Direction
- reducede0
- Comparator
- 44211e0
- Setting
- in vitroe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
_on_Corn_(Zea_mays)_at_Waimea%2C_Hawaii.jpg?width=500)
Verbatim
e0“Compared with 44211, TRI5 RNAi mutants had significantly reduced TRI5 expression and NX toxin production in vitro”
t0“Fusarium graminearum”
Claim · model-written summary
Barley heads inoculated with TRI5 RNAi mutants and 44211 had similar disease levels.
- Taxon
- Barley
.jpg?width=60)
Hordeum vulgaree0 - Organ / stage
- headse0
- Treatment
- TRI5 RNAi mutantse0
- Interactor
- Fusarium graminearumFusarium graminearumt0pathogen
- Outcome
- disease levelse0
- Direction
- similare0
- Comparator
- 44211e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
.jpg?width=500)
Verbatim
e0“Barley heads inoculated with TRI5 RNAi mutants or 44211 showed similar disease levels”
t0“Fusarium graminearum”
Claim · model-written summary
Barley heads inoculated with TRI5 RNAi mutants had significantly reduced NX toxin compared with 44211-inoculated heads.
- Taxon
- barleyHordeum vulgaree0
- Organ / stage
- headse0
- Treatment
- TRI5 RNAi mutantse0
- Interactor
- Fusarium graminearumFusarium graminearumt0pathogen
- Outcome
- NX toxine0
- Direction
- reducede0
- Comparator
- 44211-inoculated headse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“barley heads inoculated with TRI5 RNAi mutants had significantly reduced NX toxin compared with 44211-inoculated heads”
t0“Fusarium graminearum”
Claim · model-written summary
TRI5 RNAi barley lines had significantly reduced FHB severity relative to controls.
- Taxon
- BarleyHordeum vulgaret0
- Material
- TRI5 RNAi transgenic linese0
- Treatment
- TRI5 RNAie0
- Interactor
- Fusarium graminearumFusarium graminearumt1pathogen
- Gene
- TRI5e0
- Outcome
- FHB severitye0
- Direction
- reducede0
- Comparator
- controlse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“both FHB severity and NX-3 were significantly reduced in TRI5 RNAi transgenic lines compared with controls”
t0“Barley”
t1“Fusarium graminearum”
Claim · model-written summary
TRI5 RNAi barley lines had significantly reduced NX-3 relative to controls.
- Taxon
- BarleyHordeum vulgaret0
- Material
- TRI5 RNAi transgenic linese0
- Treatment
- TRI5 RNAie0
- Interactor
- Fusarium graminearumFusarium graminearumt1pathogen
- Gene
- TRI5e0
- Outcome
- NX-3e0
- Direction
- reducede0
- Comparator
- controlse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“both FHB severity and NX-3 were significantly reduced in TRI5 RNAi transgenic lines compared with controls”
t0“Barley”
t1“Fusarium graminearum”
Claim · model-written summary
Small RNA sequencing found TRI5-mapping reads in Fusarium RNAi mutants and barley RNAi lines.
- Taxon
- barleyHordeum vulgaree0
- Interactor
- F. graminearumFusarium graminearume0pathogen
- Gene
- TRI5e0
- Outcome
- sRNA reads that mapped to the TRI5 sequencee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Small RNA (sRNA) sequencing of both F. graminearum TRI5 RNAi mutants and barley TRI5 RNAi lines revealed sRNA reads that mapped to the TRI5 sequence”
Claim · model-written summary
TRI5 small RNA mapping patterns were remarkably similar in Fusarium and barley.
- Taxon
- barleyHordeum vulgaree0
- Outcome
- sRNA mapping patternse0
- Direction
- similare0
FusariumOrganisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“the sRNA mapping patterns were remarkably similar in Fusarium and barley”