The Pathogen-Induced MATE Gene Is Required for Defense Responses to in Wheat.

The sharp eyespot, mainly caused by the soil-borne fungus , is a devastating disease endangering production of wheat (). Multi-Antimicrobial Extrusion (MATE) family genes are widely distributed in plant species, but little is known about MATE functions in wheat disease resistance. In this study, we identified , a pathogen-induced MATE gene in wheat, from RNA-seq data. expression was induced by and was higher in sharp eyespot-resistant wheat genotypes than in susceptible wheat genotypes. Molecular biology assays showed that TaPIMA1 belonged to the MATE family, and the expressed protein could distribute in the cytoplasm and plasma membrane. Virus-Induced Gene Silencing plus disease assessment indicated that knock-down of impaired resistance of wheat to sharp eyespot and down-regulated the expression of defense genes (, , , and ). Furthermore, was rapidly induced by exogenous HO and jasmonate (JA) treatments, which also promoted the expression of pathogenesis-related genes. These results suggested that might positively regulate the defense against by up-regulating the expression of defense-associated genes in HO and JA signal pathways. This study sheds light on the role of MATE transporter in wheat defense to and provides a potential gene for improving wheat resistance against sharp eyespot.