Abstract
Wheat stripe rust caused by Puccinia striifor- mis f. sp. tritici (Pst) poses a great threat to wheat production worldwide. The rapid change in virulence of Pst leads to a loss of resistance in currently resistant wheat cultivars, which results in frequent disease epidemics. Therefore, a major focus is currently placed on investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying this rapid variation of pathogenicity and coevolving wheat resistance. Limited by the lack of a system for stable transformation of Pst and the difficulties in wheat transformation, it is not easy to generate deeper insights into the wheat-Pst interaction using established genetic methods. Nevertheless, considerable effort has been made to unravel the wheat-Pst interaction and significant progress is being made. Histology and cytology have revealed basic details of infection strategies and defense responses during wheat-Pst interactions, identified cellular components involved in wheat-Pst interactions, and have helped to elucidate their role in the infection process or in plant defense responses. Transcriptome and genome sequencing has revealed the molecular features and dynamics of the wheat-Pst pathosystem. Extensive molecular analyses have led to the identification of major components in the wheat resistance response and in Pst virulence. Studies of wheat-Pst interactions have now entered a new phase in which cellular and molecular approaches are being used. This review focuses on the cellular biology of wheat-Pst interactions and integrates the emerging data from molecular analyses with the histocytological observations.
Highlights
Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is one of the three most important food crops, along with rice and potato
Through construction of a cDNA library from wheat leaves inoculated with a virulent Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst) isolates, 5793 ESTs were obtained which gave a set of 2743 unique sequences[19]
During the coevolution of wheat and Pst, challenged by the rapid change in the virulence of Pst, wheat has acquired many traits to defend itself against new virulent Pst races
Summary
Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is one of the three most important food crops, along with rice and potato. The quick emergence of new virulent races of Pst has led to frequent resistance losses in currently resistant cultivars, which results in epidemics of wheat stripe rust. In China, during 1950–2010, virulence mutation of Pst led to seven large-scale cultivar replacements. Stripe rust epidemics have typically been the outcome of interactions between coevolved host materials and pathogens. The evolutionary antagonism between wheat and Pst typically coincides with the gene-for-gene model, based on coevolved resistance (R) genes in wheat and avirulence (Avr) genes in Pst. During the battle against pathogenic Pst, wheat has evolved a two-layered innate immune system that includes pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP)-triggered immunity (PTI) and effector-triggered immunity (ETI)[4]. The availability of transcriptome and genome sequences for wheat and Pst has promoted the understanding of the molecular events occurring in wheatPst interactions. We demonstrate the achievements made in the histological and cytological study of wheat-Pst interactions, and discuss new insights into wheat immunity and Pst pathogenesis provided by the sequence resources and advanced genomic technologies
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