Comprehensive Transcriptome and Long Non-Coding RNA Profiling of Wheat Under Stem Rust Infection

Stem rust, caused by the fungal pathogen Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici, significantly threatens wheat yield and grain quality. To better understand the molecular mechanisms of resistance, we performed a comprehensive whole-transcriptome analysis of wheat varieties resistant and susceptible to stem rust (pathotype 40A) alongside their mock-treated controls. Our study focused on rust-resistant near-isogenic lines carrying the Sr36 resistance gene. The large-scale transcriptome data generated were primarily used to profile regulatory lncRNAs and explore their functional roles associated with R genes and other genomic elements in wheat under stem rust infection.