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The miR168a–TaAGO1b module improves Fusarium head blight resistance and yield in wheat

Guoliang Chen1, 2†, Shuaifeng Geng1, 3†, Zhongyin Deng1†, Yuqing Che1†, Ziying Wang1, Tianhua Chen1, 3, Dada Cui1, Xinyu Zou1, Qihang Chen1, Wanxin Xu1, Zixu Zhao1, Ziyi Yan1, Tingting Li2, Zili Ye1, Jiajie Wu4, Xigang Liu5, Min Zhang2*, Long Mao1, 3*, Aili Li1* and Shaoshuai Liu1, 3*   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Resources and Breeding and National Key Facility for Crop Resources and Genetic Improvement, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China;
    2. College of Agronomy, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China;
    3. National Center of Technology Innovation for Comprehensive Utilization of Saline-Alkali Land, Dongying, Shandong 257000, China;
    4. State Key Laboratory of Wheat Improvement, College of Agronomy, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an 271018, China;
    5. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology, College of Life Sciences, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China
    †These authors contributed equally to this work.
    *Correspondences: Shaoshuai Liu (liushaoshuai@caas.cn, Dr. Liu is fully responsible for the distribution of all materials associated with this article); Min Zhang (yalanmin@126.com); Long Mao (maolong@caas.cn); Aili Li (liaili@caas.cn)
  • Received:2026-04-09 Accepted:2026-08-26 Online:2026-09-14
  • Supported by:
    This research was supported by Key R&D Program of Shandong Province, China (Grant No.2024SFGC0404), the Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS-ZDRW202403), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (3257151902, 32201878, 32172050, and W2411025), the Hebei Natural Science Foundation (C2025205068). We gratefully acknowledge the technical assistance provided by the Key Facility Center of ICS, CAAS, for RNA-seq library preparation and sequencing.

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Abstract: Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a devastating fungal disease of wheat that causes severe yield loss and mycotoxin contamination. Wheat varieties offering higher grain yield while maintaining moderate resistance to FHB are highly desirable. Here, we report that microRNA168a (miR168a) acts as a key negative regulator of both FHB resistance and grain yield in wheat. Knockdown of miR168a via target mimicry (MIM168) enhanced resistance to FHB in transgenic plants, accompanied by increased H2O2 accumulation and restricted fungal spread. MIM168 plants also exhibited higher grain yield with longer spikes and higher spikelet number per spike under uninfected field conditions. By contrast, miR168a overexpression (OE168) lines became more susceptible to FHB and displayed significantly reduced grain yield. We further identified TaAGO1b as a target of miR168a. Knockout of TaAGO1b using CRISPR/Cas9 (ago1b) recapitulated the FHB susceptibility and reduced spike length, demonstrating that miR168a and TaAGO1b work as a module. Moreover, miR168a positively regulates the miR156–TaSPL17 module, which is associated with spike development, and it also regulates miR444 in FHB infection, and that knockdown of miR444 via target mimicry (MIM444) enhances FHB resistance. Meanwhile, ago1b mutations upregulated miR156 and miR444. Thus, our data demonstrated that the miR168a–TaAGO1b module contributes to wheat spike architecture and FHB resistance via miR156 and miR444, providing a potential strategy for breeding high-yielding and FHB-resistant wheat varieties.

Key words: AGO1b, Fusarium head blight, miR168a, miR444, wheat

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