ITRAQ-Based Proteomic Analysis of Wheat (<i>Triticum aestivum</i>) Spikes in Response to <i>Tilletia controversa</i> Kühn and <i>Tilletia foetida</i> Kühn Infection, Causal Organisms of Dwarf Bunt and Common Bunt of Wheat

Dwarf bunt and common bunt diseases of wheat are caused by <i>Tilletia controversa</i> Kühn and <i>Tilletia foetida</i> Kühn, respectively, and losses caused by these diseases can reach 70–80% in favourable conditions. <i>T. controversa</i> and <i>T. foetida</i> are fungal pathogens belonging to the <i>Exobasidiomycetes</i> within the basidiomycetous smut fungi (<i>Ustilaginomycotina</i>). In order to illuminate the proteomics differences of wheat spikes after the infection of <i>T. controversa</i> and <i>T. foetida</i>, the isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) technique was used for better clarification. A total of 4553 proteins were differentially detected after <i>T. controversa</i> infection; 4100 were upregulated, and 453 were downregulated. After <i>T. foetida</i> infection, 804 differentially expressed proteins were detected; 447 were upregulated and 357 were downregulated. In-depth data analysis revealed that 44, 50 and 82 proteins after <i>T. controversa</i> and 9, 6 and 16 proteins after <i>T. foetida</i> were differentially expressed, which are antioxidant, plant-pathogen interaction and glutathione proteins, respectively, and 9 proteins showed results consistent with PRM. The top 20 KEGG enrichment pathways were identified after pathogen infection. On the basis of gene ontology, the upregulated proteins were linked with metabolic process, catalytic activity, transferase activity, photosynthetic membrane, extracellular region and oxidoreductase activity. The results expanded our understanding of the proteome in wheat spikes in response to <i>T. controversa</i> and <i>T. foetida</i> infection and provide a basis for further investigation for improving the defense mechanism of the wheat crops.