Wheat Gene Contributes to Stripe Rust Resistance.

Autophagy-related 8 (ATG8) protein has been reported to be involved in plant's innate immune response, but it is not clear whether such genes play a similar role in cereal crops against obligate biotrophic fungal pathogens. Here, we reported an gene from wheat (), designated . This gene has three copies located in chromosomes 2AS, 2BS, and 2DS. The transcriptions of all three copies were upregulated in plants of the wheat cultivar Suwon 11, inoculated with an avirulent race (CYR23) of f. sp. (), the causal fungal pathogen of stripe rust. The transient expression of in showed that TaATG8j proteins were distributed throughout the cytoplasm, but mainly in the nucleus and plasma membrane. The overexpression of in slightly delayed the cell death caused by the mouse apoptotic protein BAX (BCL2-associated X protein). However, the expression of in yeast () induced cell death. The virus-induced gene silencing of all copies rendered Suwon 11 susceptible to the avirulent race CYR23, accompanied by an increased fungal biomass and a decreased necrotic area per infection site. These results indicate that contributes to wheat resistance against stripe rust fungus by regulating cell death, providing information for the understanding of the mechanisms of wheat resistance to the stripe rust pathogen.