State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology for Arid Areas, College of Plant Protection, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China.
Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Feb 19;22(4):2080. doi: 10.3390/ijms22042080.
AP2 transcription factors play a crucial role in plant development and reproductive growth, as well as response to biotic and abiotic stress. However, the role of , in the interaction between wheat and the stripe fungus, f. sp. (), remains elusive. In this study, we isolated and characterized its function during the interaction. TaAP2-15 was localized in the nucleus of wheat and . Silencing of by barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV)-mediated VIGS (virus-induced gene silencing) increased the susceptibility of wheat to accompanied by enhanced growth of the pathogen (number of haustoria, haustorial mother cells and hyphal length). We confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR that the transcript levels of pathogenesis-related genes ( and ) were down-regulated, while reactive oxygen species (ROS)-scavenging genes ( and ) were induced accompanied by reduced accumulation of HO. Furthermore, we found that TaAP2-15 interacted with a zinc finger protein (TaRZFP34) that is a homolog of OsRZFP34 in rice. Together our findings demonstrate that is positively involved in resistance of wheat to the stripe rust fungus and provides new insights into the roles of AP2 in the host-pathogen interaction.
AP2 转录因子在植物发育和生殖生长以及生物和非生物胁迫响应中发挥着关键作用。然而，在小麦与条锈菌（ f. sp. ()）的互作中， 的作用仍不清楚。在本研究中，我们分离并鉴定了其在互作过程中的功能。TaAP2-15 在小麦和 中定位于细胞核。大麦黄矮病毒（BSMV）介导的 VIGS（病毒诱导的基因沉默）沉默 增加了小麦对 的易感性，同时增强了病原菌的生长（吸器数量、吸器母细胞和菌丝长度）。我们通过定量实时 PCR 证实，病程相关基因（ 和 ）的转录水平下调，而活性氧（ROS）清除基因（ 和 ）被诱导，同时 HO 积累减少。此外，我们发现 TaAP2-15 与一个锌指蛋白（TaRZFP34）相互作用，该蛋白在水稻中与 OsRZFP34 同源。综上所述，这些结果表明 正向参与小麦对条锈菌的抗性，为 AP2 在宿主-病原体互作中的作用提供了新的见解。
