Commentary - Unraveling the Function of FgNls1, a Fusarium graminearum Effector Critical for Full Virulence on Wheat

The hemibiotrophic fungal pathogen Fusarium graminearum infects wheat spikes, causing Fusarium head blight (FHB), one of the most destructive wheat diseases in North America, China, Europe, and many other regions. F. graminearum infection results in grain contamination with toxic secondary metabolites, such as mycotoxins, and reduces grain quality and yield (Wang et al. 2020). Previous transcriptome analysis of F. graminearum during infection identified 357 putative core effectors with a diversity of predicted functions (Rocher et al. 2022). Of these predicted core effectors, only a few have been characterized, including Flg1 (Voigt et al. 2005) and OSP24 (Jiang et al. 2020), both of which modulate host immunity.