Abstract
T-2 toxin is one of the trichothecene mycotoxin family synthesized by various Fusarium species. Although trichothecenes are thought to be virulence factors in wheat head scab, their effects in plants are barely understood. We previously found that dwarfism was observed when Arabidopsis were grown on the medium containing T-2 toxin. We monitored global gene expression in T-2 toxin-treated Arabidopsis plants using an Affymetrix GeneChip system. This revealed that T-2 toxin-inducible genes contain many defence genes. It is likely that dwarfism is caused by continuous defence response to T-2 toxin. Furthermore, we found a gene (At2g03760), which is homologous to the BNST3 gene encoding steroid sulfotransferase in B.napus, is also upregulated in T-2 toxin-treated plants. It has been reported that BNST3 specifically inactivated brassinosteroid. In addition, GA4 gene is downregulated in T-2 toxin-treated plants. These two genes might play some roles for T-2 toxin-induced dwarfism in Arabidopsis plants.
