When the rachis is infected with FHB, spikelets above the infection point may also become bleached, with pink to orange masses of spores of the fungus, in contrast to the gray masses of MoT (Figure 2A), being observed on the infected spikelets (Figure 2B; Wise and Woloshuk, 2010; Valent et al., 2016). Here, HSPA9 is linked to infection.