Digitization of trait representation in microarray data analysis of wheat infected by fusarium graminearum

Fusarium head blight (FHB) limits wheat yield and compromises grain quality. We investigated differentially expressed genes after FHB challenge. FHB-susceptible and -resistant common wheat (Triticum aestivum) cultivars were challenged with the toxigenic fungus Fusarium graminearum and gene expression was analyzed using 61K Affymetrix wheat microarrays. We digitized trait specificity in the susceptible and resistant lines with and without the infection in order to facilitate subsequent data mining. We discovered various patterns of differential gene expression between susceptible and resistant lines in response to the infection. We performed association network analysis among genes in clusters significantly correlated with one or more quantitative trait loci known to contribute to Fusarium resistance. We found 11 interconnected hub genes responsive to FHB infection and significantly correlated with wheat resistance to FHB, among which two are predicted to encode a polygalacturonase-inhibiting protein (PGIP1).