Powdery mildew resistance gene Pm21 , located on the chromosome 6V short arm of Haynaldia villosa and transferred to wheat as a 6VS·6AL translocation (T6VS·6AL), confers durable and broad-spectrum resistance to wheat powdery mildew. Pm21 has become a key gene resource for powdery mildew resistance breeding all over the world. In China, 12 wheat varieties containing Pm21 have been planted on more than 3.4 million hectares since 2002. Pm21 has been intractable to molecular genetic mapping because the 6VS does not pair and recombine with the 6AS. Moreover, all known accessions of H. villosa are immune to powdery mildew fungus. Pm21 is still defined by cytogenetics as a locus. In the present study, a putative serine and threonine protein kinase gene Stpk-V was cloned and characterized with an integrative strategy of molecular and cytogenetic techniques. Stpk-V is located on the Pm21 locus. The results of a single cell transient expression assay showed that Stpk-V could decrease the haustorium index dramatically. After the Stpk-V was transformed into a susceptible wheat variety Yangmai158, the characterized transgenic plants showed high and broad-spectrum powdery mildew resistance similar to T6VS·6AL. Silencing of the Stpk-V by virus-induced gene silencing in both T6VS·6AL and H. villosa resulted in their increased susceptibility. Stpk-V could be induced by Bgt and exogenous H ₂ O ₂ , but it also mediated the increase of endogenous H ₂ O ₂ , leading to cell death and plant resistance when the plant was attacked by Bgt .

Plants have developed effective mechanisms to recognize and respond to infections caused by pathogens. Plant resistance gene analogs (RGAs), as resistance (R) gene candidates, have conserved domains and motifs that play specific roles in pathogens’ resistance. Well-known RGAs are nucleotide binding site leucine rich repeats, receptor like kinases, and receptor like proteins. Others include pentatricopeptide repeats and apoplastic peroxidases. RGAs can be detected using bioinformatics tools based on their conserved structural features. Thousands of RGAs have been identified from sequenced plant genomes. High-density genome-wide RGA genetic maps are useful for designing diagnostic markers and identifying quantitative trait loci (QTL) or markers associated with plant disease resistance. This review focuses on recent advances in structures and mechanisms of RGAs, and their identification from sequenced genomes using bioinformatics tools. Applications in enhancing fine mapping and cloning of plant disease resistance genes are also discussed.

Background: Fusarium head blight (FHB), caused mainly by Fusarium graminearum (Fg) Schwabe (teleomorph: Gibberellazeae Schwble), brings serious damage to wheat production. Chinese wheat landrace Wangshuibai is one of the most important resistance sources in the world. The knowledge of mechanism underlying its resistance to FHB is still limited. Results: To get an overview of transcriptome characteristics of Wangshuibai during infection by Fg, a high-throughput RNA sequencing based on next generation sequencing (NGS) technology (Illumina) were performed. Totally, 165,499 unigenes were generated and assigned to known protein databases including NCBI non-redundant protein database (nr) (82,721, 50.0%), Gene Ontology (GO) (38,184, 23.1%), Swiss-Prot (50,702, 30.6%), Clusters of orthologous groups (COG) (51,566, 31.2%) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) (30,657, 18.5%), as determined by Blastx search. With another NGS based platform, a digital gene expression (DGE) system, gene expression in Wangshuibai and its FHB susceptible mutant NAUH117 was profiled and compared at two infection stages by inoculation of Fg at 24 and 48 hour, with the aim of identifying genes involved in FHB resistance. Conclusion: Pathogen-related proteins such as PR5, PR14 and ABC transporter and JA signaling pathway were crucial for FHB resistance, especially that mediated by Fhb1. ET pathway and ROS/NO pathway were not activated in Wangshuibai and may be not pivotal in defense to FHB. Consistent with the fact that in NAUH117 there presented a chromosome fragment deletion, which led to its increased FHB susceptibility, in Wangshuibai, twenty out of eighty-nine genes showed changed expression patterns upon the infection of Fg. The up-regulation of eight of them was confirmed by qRT-PCR, revealing they may be candidate genes for Fhb1 and need further functional analysis to confirm their roles in FHB resistance.

Summary: Plant sense potential microbial pathogen using pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) to recognize pathogen‐associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). The Lectin receptor‐like kinase genes (LecRKs) are involved in various cellular processes mediated by signal transduction pathways. In the present study, an L‐type lectin receptor kinase gene LecRK‐V was cloned from Haynaldia villosa, a diploid wheat relative which is highly resistant to powdery mildew. The expression of LecRK‐V was rapidly up‐regulated by Bgt inoculation and chitin treatment. Its transcript level was higher in the leaves than in roots, culms, spikes and callus. Single‐cell transient overexpression of LecRK‐V led to decreased haustorium index in wheat variety Yangmai158, which is powdery mildew susceptible. Stable transformation LecRK‐V into Yangmai158 significantly enhanced the powdery mildew resistance at both seedling and adult stages. At seedling stage, the transgenic line was highly resistance to 18 of the tested 23 Bgt isolates, hypersensitive responses (HR) were observed for 22 Bgt isolates, and more ROS at the Bgt infection sites was accumulated. These indicated that LecRK‐V confers broad‐spectrum resistance to powdery mildew, and ROS and SA pathways contribute to the enhanced powdery mildew resistance in wheat.