One of the most critical problems of cereal breeding is Fusarium crown rot disease caused by various Fusarium species. Fusarium culmorum is one of the predominant pathogen in Turkey and causes serious product losses. In this study, the early response of barley cultivars upon F. culmorum infection were analyzed by disease severity and gene expression patterns of WRKY transcription factors. In that context, firstly, disease severities of 9 barley cultivars (Hordeum vulgare L. cvs. Epona, Escadre, Gazda, Oliver, Avcı 2002, Burakbey, Tarm 92, Manava, and Ramata) infected with F. culmorum were determined with disease index percentages. After 7 days of infection, Epona was more sensitive than the other cultivars while the lowest disease index was observed in Gazda. Expression analysis of HvWRKY6,

The study was conducted to investigate the salinity and drought susceptibilities of barley and wheat varieties cultivated in Turkey by phenotypic assays and to evaluate the association of WRKY19 and WRKY52 transcription factors with salinity and drought stresses by gene expression assays. Salinity tests of treatment different concentration of (0, 0.5, 1 and 2%) NaCl were managed with 13 barley and 22 wheat varieties germinated for 10 days. According to findings obtained from phenotypic investigations, two relative tolerant and two sensitive cultivars were selected and used in gene expression analysis. Transcript abundance for drought stress and relative fold changes for salinity stress were analyzed via expression assays of WRKY19 and WRKY52 genes. The minimum and maximum germination scores were changed between 0.090±0.090-3.818±0.400 (barley) and 0.454±0.312-3.0913±0.594 (wheat), while water loss rate (WLR) values ranged from 0.009±0.0091-0.2±0.0011 (barley) and 0.01±0.0005-0.3±0.1195 (wheat). In drought stress assessments, WRKY19 and WRKY52 transcripts abundances were relatively higher in relatively resistance cultivars in comparison to sensitive genotypes. Similarly, fold c h a n g e s i n g e n e expression were higher in resistant cultivars up to +26 changes. Drought and salinity stress factor analysis showed that there was no homogenous abiotic stress response profile for barley and wheat varieties in Turkey. According to gene expression analysis, WRKY19 and WRK52 genes could stimulate the d r o u g h t a n d s a l i n i t y responses. This study is important in terms of a n a l y z i n g t h e c e r e a l varieties planted in Turkey, a n d p r o v i d i n g a n a s s o c i a t i o n b e t w e e n WRKY genes and abiotic stress.

Hordeum vulgare L. (barley) and Triticum aestivum L. (wheat) are among the most valuable crops cultivated and planted in many regions including Turkey. These plants have wide range of adaptation ability and capacity; they represent high level of variation in terms of physiological, genetics and epigenetics parameters and characteristics. Physiological and genetic variations were investigated by relative water content (RWC) assays, measuring electroconductivity (EC) levels and amplification of microsatellite markers in 21 barley and 43 wheat lines. At least three drought sensitive and three drought resistant lines were detected in barley and wheat lines via RWC assays. RWC values were recorded between 0.05±0.013 and 0.55±0.003%. Similarly great variation was detected for EC values of both barley and also wheat lines. Minimum and maximum EC values were ranged from 4.00±0.06 μS cm-1 to 59.88±3.209 μS cm-1. Three microsatellite markers, Bmag0120, Bmag0306 and Bmag375, were targeted in barley genome. Similarly, Han18, Wmc506 and Wmc623 microsatellite markers were targeted in wheat genome. Among these markers only Bmag0120 and Han18 were amplified from each line's genome by PCR and qPCR assays. In PCR and qPCR analysis homozygous and heterozygous lines were detected for Bmag0120 while each line was homozygous for Han18. Idiomorphic band size as 300 bp was detected in Han18 while it was ranged from 224 to 279 bp for Bmac0120 marker. Results showed that homozygous lines were drought resistant ones in barley lines whereas no correlation was found for wheat lines investigated in this study.