A Novel Wall-Associated Kinase TaWAK-5D600 Positively Participates in Defense against Sharp Eyespot and Fusarium Crown Rot in Wheat

Abstract

Sharp eyespot and Fusarium crown rot, mainly caused by soil-borne fungi Rhizoctonia cerealis and Fusarium pseudograminearum, are destructive diseases of major cereal crops including wheat (Triticum aestivum). However, the mechanisms underlying wheat-resistant responses to the two pathogens are largely elusive. In this study, we performed a genome-wide analysis of wall-associated kinase (WAK) family in wheat. As a result, a total of 140 TaWAK (not TaWAKL) candidate genes were identified from the wheat genome, each of which contains an N-terminal signal peptide, a galacturonan binding domain, an EGF-like domain, a calcium binding EGF domain (EGF-Ca), a transmembrane domain, and an intracellular Serine/Threonine protein kinase domain. By analyzing the RNA-sequencing data of wheat inoculated with R. cerealis and F. pseudograminearum, we found that transcript abundance of TaWAK-5D600 (TraesCS5D02G268600) on chromosome 5D was significantly upregulated, and that its upregulated transcript levels in response to both pathogens were higher compared with other TaWAK genes. Importantly, knock-down of TaWAK-5D600 transcript impaired wheat resistance against the fungal pathogens R. cerealis and F. pseudograminearum, and significantly repressed expression of defense-related genes in wheat, TaSERK1, TaMPK3, TaPR1, TaChitinase3, and TaChitinase4. Thus, this study proposes TaWAK-5D600 as a promising gene for improving wheat broad resistance to sharp eyespot and Fusarium crown rot (FCR) in wheat.

Combination of linkage and association mapping with genomic prediction to infer QTL regions associated with gray leaf spot and northern corn leaf blight resistance in tropical maize

“…The major effect QTL for both GLS on chromosome 1 is of immediate interest to be used in resistance breeding. Among the nine candidate genes identified for GLS resistance through association mapping, one on chromosome 2 (Zm00001eb077270) encodes a putative receptor-like protein kinase which are transmembrane signaling proteins that are able to sense changes in the extracellular environment such as pathogen invasion (Decreux et al, 2006;Qi et al, 2023). Another candidate gene on chromosome 1 (Zm00001eb034870) encodes DNA damage-repair/toleration protein that harbors a leucine-rich repeat domain which serve as the first line of defense in response to pathogen-associated molecular patterns (Ng and Xavier, 2011).…”