Host-Induced Gene Silencing of the MAPKK Gene Confers Stable Resistance to Wheat Stripe Rust.

RNA interference (RNAi) is a powerful genetic tool to accelerate research in plant biotechnology and control biotic stresses by manipulating target gene expression. However, the potential of RNAi in wheat to efficiently and durably control the devastating stripe rust fungus f. sp. () remained largely under explored so far. To address this issue, we generated transgenic wheat () lines expressing dsRNA targeting transcripts of We analyzed expression of and related genes, and resistance traits of the transgenic wheat lines. We show that is an important pathogenicity factor that regulates infection and development of A RNAi construct stably expressed in two independent transgenic wheat lines confers strong resistance to hyphal development is strongly restricted, and necrosis of plant cells in resistance responses was significantly induced. We conclude that trafficking of RNA molecules from wheat plants to may lead to a complex molecular dialogue between wheat and the rust pathogen. Moreover, we confirm the RNAi-based crop protection approaches can be used, to our knowledge, as a novel control strategy against rust pathogens in wheat.