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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Pullman, Washington » WHGQ » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #412831
Research Project: Wheat and Barley Adaptation to a Changing Climate - Discovery of Genetic and Physiological Processes for Improved Crop Productivity and Quality

Location: Wheat Health, Genetics, and Quality Research

Title: Molecular mechanisms of the stripe rust interaction with resistant and susceptible wheat genotypes

Author
item NAZAROV, TARAS - Washington State University
item LIU, YAN - Washington State University
item Chen, Xianming
item See, Deven

Submitted to: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/28/2024
Publication Date: 3/3/2024
Citation: Nazarov, T., Liu, Y., Chen, X., See, D.R. 2024. Molecular mechanisms of the stripe rust interaction with resistant and susceptible wheat genotypes. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 25(5). Article 2930. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25052930.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25052930

Interpretive Summary: This study focused on the stripe rust pathogen - wheat interactions, on the whole transcriptome level, from the pathogen side. It lays a foundation for the better understanding of the resistant/susceptible hosts versus pathogenic fungus interaction in a broader sense.

Technical Abstract: Rust fungi cause significant damage to crop production worldwide. In order to mitigate disease impact and improve food security via durable resistance, it is important to understand the molecular basis of host-pathogen interactions. Despite a long history of research and high agricultural importance, still little is known about the interactions between the stripe rust fungus and wheat host on the gene expression level. Here we present analysis of the molecular interactions between a major wheat pathogen – Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst) in resistant and susceptible host backgrounds. Using plants with durable nonrace-specific resistance along with fully susceptible ones, allowed us to show how gene expression patterns shift in compatible versus incompatible interactions. The pathogen showed significantly greater number and fold changes of overexpressed genes on the resistant host. Stress related pathways including MAPK, oxidation-reduction, osmotic stress, and stress granule formation were, almost exclusively, upregulated in the resistant host background, suggesting the requirement of the resistance-countermeasure mechanism facilitated by Pst. In contrast, the susceptible host background allowed for broad overrepresentation of the nutrient uptake pathways. This is the first study, focused on the stripe rust pathogen - wheat interactions, on the whole transcriptome level, from the pathogen side. It lays a foundation for the better understanding of the resistant/susceptible hosts versus pathogenic fungus interaction in a broader sense.