Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41042422›Full record

ArticleRice (New York, N.Y.)2025

Genome-Wide Characterization Highlights Key Roles for Bread Wheat MLO Genes in Powdery Mildew and Abiotic Stresses.

Babar Hussain, Qasim Raza, Hamza Ramzan, Mudassar Fareed Awan, Hikmet Budak, Zulfiqar Ali, Rana Muhammad Atif

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Rice (New York, N.Y.), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. The KeyPlants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026
    Article
  2. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Babar Hussain *Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Central Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1287-3450
Qasim Raza *College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1397-646X
Hamza RamzanQueensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
Mudassar Fareed AwanDepartment of Biotechnology, Knowledge Unit of Science, University of Management and Technology, Sialkot, Pakistan.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1535-1447
Hikmet BudakDepartment of Agriculture, Arizona Western College, Yuma, AZ, 85366, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2556-2478
Zulfiqar AliDepartment of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1228-3338
Rana Muhammad AtifDepartment of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. dratif@uaf.edu.pk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9060-4590

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Powdery mildew (PM) is one of the most devastating and widespread foliar diseases globally. Despite the critical need for developing a durable PM resistance, the number of cloned genes remains limited, along with a shortage of Mildew Locus O (MLO) resistance-conferring genes in wheat breeding programs. Here, utilizing the latest wheat reference genome data, we comprehensively identified and characterized 47 MLO genes through a genome-wide search approach. These genes are randomly distributed among 21 wheat chromosomes, harbor seven transmembrane domains, and are predicted to be primarily localized in the plasma membrane. Comparative phylogenetic analysis with model plants classified wheat MLOs into four clades (I-IV) harboring 6, 28, 6, and 7 genes, respectively. The phylogenetic grouping was strongly supported by gene structures and motif distribution among members of different clades. Evolution analysis revealed that the MLO gene arsenal expanded through segmental duplications, and purifying selection is potentially conserving their stress-associated functions. In-silico expression analysis highlighted at least 10 genes with overlapping expression patterns among different growth and development stages and under abiotic and biotic stress conditions. The quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) validated the differential expression patterns of these 10 overlapping genes in PM-resistant and susceptible wheat genotypes after challenging these with a PM pathogen strain at different time intervals. The identified wheat MLO genes, especially the 10 overlapping genes, highlight untapped genetic diversity for engineering a durable and broad-spectrum tolerance/resistance against abiotic and biotic stresses, especially the PM resistance. Collectively, this study provides a compendium of wheat MLO genes, which could be functionally characterized to confirm their roles in PM resistance and further exploited in wheat breeding programs for the development of climate-resilient cultivars for sustainable wheat production.

Indexed as

Climate resilienceDisease resistanceGenomic diversityMildew locus OMulti-Omics

Identifiers

PMID41042422
PMCPMC12494513

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.