International Journal of Molecular Sciences Article Specific Mycoparasite-Fusarium Graminearum Molecular Signatures in Germinating Seeds Disabled Fusarium Head Blight Pathogen’s Infection Seon Hwa Kim 1 , Rachid Lahlali 2,3, Chithra Karunakaran 2 and Vladimir Vujanovic 1,* 1 Department of Food and Bioproduct Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 51 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A8, Canada;
[email protected] 2 Canadian Light Source, 44 Innovation Blvd, Saskatoon, SK S7N 2V3, Canada;
[email protected] (R.L.);
[email protected] (C.K.) 3 Department of Plant Protection, Phytopathology Unit, Ecole Nationale d’Agriculture de Meknès, BP/S 40, Meknès 50001, Morocco * Correspondence:
[email protected] Abstract: Advances in Infrared (IR) spectroscopies have entered a new era of research with appli- cations in phytobiome, plant microbiome and health. Fusarium graminearum 3-ADON is the most aggressive mycotoxigenic chemotype causing Fusarium head blight (FHB) in cereals; while Sphaerodes mycoparasitica is the specific Fusarium mycoparasite with biotrophic lifestyle discovered in cereal seeds and roots. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analyses depicted shifts in the spectral peaks related to mycoparasitism mainly within the region of proteins, lipids, also indicating a link between carbohydrates and protein regions, involving potential phenolic compounds. Es- −1 Citation: Kim, S.H.; Lahlali, R.; pecially, S. mycoparasitica contributes to significant changes in lipid region 3050–2800 cm , while − Karunakaran, C.; Vujanovic, V. in the protein region, an increasing trend was observed for the peaks 1655–1638 cm 1 (amide I) Specific Mycoparasite-Fusarium and 1549–1548 cm−1 (amide II) with changes in indicative protein secondary structures. Besides, Graminearum Molecular Signatures in the peak extending on the region 1520–1500 cm−1 insinuates a presence of aromatic compounds Germinating Seeds Disabled in presence of mycoparasite on the F.