{
  "abstract": "Sugarcane smut, caused by the biotrophic fungus Sporisorium scitamineum , causes serious yield and sugar losses. Growing resistant varieties is the main control method. The fungal b mating-type locus ( b -locus) is required for filamentous growth and virulence, but how it shapes the host response is not well understood. Here, we compared a resistant cultivar (GT29) and a susceptible cultivar (GT11-80) after inoculation with a wild-type (WT) strain or a b -locus deletion mutant, with sampling from 0 to 7 days postinoculation (dpi). We measured bE gene copy number by quantitative PCR (qPCR), assayed defense enzymes and phytohormones, and performed RNA sequencing followed by time-ordered gene co-expression network (TO-GCN) analysis. The WT strain proliferated rapidly in GT11-80 but was strongly restricted in GT29, and the b -locus mutant reached much lower levels than the WT strain in GT11-80 by 7 dpi. GT29 showed a stronger and more sustained oxidative burst (O ₂ ⁻ and H ₂ O ₂ ) than GT11-80 and maintained higher antioxidant enzyme activities. For hormones, WT infection induced more jasmonic acid (JA) and 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC; the ethylene precursor) than the mutant, with the highest levels in GT29 at 5 dpi, whereas salicylic acid (SA) accumulated late (7 dpi) in GT11-80; abscisic acid (ABA) stayed high under WT infection but dropped under the mutant. TO-GCN analysis identified a WT-specific, time-ordered transcription factor (TF) cascade in GT11-80 that was lost under mutant infection, whereas the GT29 network kept its temporal order under both conditions. In the jasmonic acid/ethylene (JA/ET) subnetwork, ERF1 was a central hub in GT11-80, while in GT29 ERF1 was much less connected and EIN3 was the main hub. Overall, the b -locus is required for the time-ordered transcriptional response during infection, and the resistant and susceptible cultivars differ in their hormone dynamics and JA/ET network structure. These findings provide candidate genes and network features for breeding smut-resistant sugarcane.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Sugarcane Research Institute, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Sugarcane Biotechnology and Genetic Improvement (Guangxi), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs/Key Laboratory of Sugarcane Genetic Improvement (Guangxi)",
    "Guangxi South Subtropical Agricultural Science Research Institute"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 12,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Xiu-Peng Song"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Xiao-Qiu Zhang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Bing-Qiang Lu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Dong-Mei Huang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Yong-Jian Liang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Bao-Qing Zhang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Yu-Chi Deng"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Dong-Mei Li"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Yang-Rui Li"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Qiang Liang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Krishan K. Verma"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Mei-Xin Yan"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/41maeetkt8bhh.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3389/fpls.2026.1929311",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13721741/?tool=EBI",
  "id": "41maeetkt8bhh",
  "issns": [
    "1664-462X"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2026.1929311/full",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Original Research"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1110|Sugarcane Cultivation and Processing"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7222446008",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2026.1929311/pdf",
  "pmcid": "PMC13721741",
  "pmid": "42965084",
  "published": "2026-10-16",
  "publisher": "Frontiers Media SA",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/41maeetkt8bhh.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:25Z",
      "native_id": "10.3389/fpls.2026.1929311",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2026.1929311/full"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-31T12:21:36Z",
      "native_id": "PMC:PMC13721741",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13721741"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-03T12:22:23Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13721741",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2026.1929311"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:1110|Sugarcane Cultivation and Processing",
      "subfield": "plant-biology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Time-ordered co-expression network analysis reveals b-locus-mediated transcriptional cascades underlying sugarcane resistance to smut fungus (Sporisorium scitamineum)",
  "title_text": "Time-ordered co-expression network analysis reveals b-locus-mediated transcriptional cascades underlying sugarcane resistance to smut fungus (Sporisorium scitamineum)",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-03T12:22:23Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/41maeetkt8bhh",
  "venue": "Frontiers in Plant Science",
  "versions": []
}