Functional Analysis of Wheat NAC Transcription Factor, , in Regulating Resistance of Wheat to Leaf Rust Fungus.

NAC transcription factors are one of the largest transcription factor families having functions in a variety of stress responses. Few NACs have been reported for interactions between wheat and the wheat rust fungus (). In this study, based on analysis of RNA-seq data from wheat line TcLr19 inoculated by , the NAC transcription factor was cloned from wheat, and its transcriptional activity and homologous dimer formation were verified. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis showed that the expression of was induced by and associated signaling molecules. To further characterize the function of the gene in wheat resistance to , virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) was utilized, and it revealed that resistance in -silenced plants was significantly reduced. Potential interaction targets of TaNAC069 from wheat and were screened and identified by yeast two-hybrid technology. Eukaryotic elongation factor , CBSX3 protein, and cold acclimation protein WCOR410c were screened by yeast one-hybrid technology. The results indicate that the gene plays a positive regulatory role in wheat resistance to , laying a good foundation to analyze the molecular mechanisms of and its functional role in wheat resistance to .