CHARACTERIZATION OF THE IMMUNE SIGNALING NETWORK THAT ACTIVATES THE RESISTANCE MECHANISM CONFERRED BY WTK1

AbstractYr15 is a wild emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccoides) derived gene that confers broad-spectrumresistance to the fungus Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst). Pst encodes a protein with a tandemkinase-pseudokinase architecture, designated as Wheat Tandem Kinase 1 (WTK1). The aim of thepresent study was to better understand the molecular mechanism underlying wheat-stripe rustinteraction by identifying differential expression of genes in a time-course analysis. To investigatetranscriptional changes activated by WTK1 in response to infection with Pst, we compared the time-course transcription of the resistant durum wheat cultivar Kronos+WTK1 with its susceptible Kronosnear-isogenic line (NIL). In this way, RNA-Seq technology can be beneficial for investigating the roleof WTK1 in the immune signaling pathways. Leaf samples were collected every 24 h for seven days,followed by RNA sequencing on the Illumina platform. By identification of downstreamtranscriptional changes that regulate the signaling networks and initiate resistance, we examinedthe Pst-wheat interaction in susceptible and resistant wheat genotypes to search for and discovercandidate WTK1-associated proteins. This search paves the way for further investigating themolecular processes that facilitate resistance.