Tuo Qi, Jia Guo, Peng Liu, Fuxin He, Cuiping Wan, Md Ashraful Islam, Brett M.Tyler, Zhensheng Kang, Jun Guo. Stripe Rust Effector PstGSRE1 Disrupts Nuclear Localization of ROS-Promoting Transcription Factor TaLOL2 to Defeat ROS-Induced Defense in Wheat

Stripe Rust Effector PstGSRE1 Disrupts Nuclear Localization of ROS-Promoting Transcription Factor TaLOL2 to Defeat ROS-Induced Defense in Wheat

Tuo Qi, Jia Guo, Peng Liu, Fuxin He, Cuiping Wan, Md Ashraful Islam, Brett M.Tyler, Zhensheng Kang, Jun Guo

Molecular Plant

DOI: 10.1016/j.molp.2019.09.010

Abstract Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), a biotrophic plant pathogen, secretes numerous effectors to modulate host defense systems. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of Pst effectors that regulate wheat immunity is of great importance for the development of novel strategies for durable control of stripe rust. In this study, we identified a glycine-serine-rich effector gene, PstGSRE1, which is highly induced during early infection. Transgenic expression of PstGSRE1 RNAi constructs in wheat significantly reduced virulence of Pst and increased H2O2 accumulation in wheat. PstGSRE1 was shown to target the ROS-associated transcription factor TaLOL2, a positive regulator of wheat immunity. PstGSRE1 disrupted the nuclear localization of TaLOL2 and suppressed ROS-mediated cell death induced by TaLOL2, thus compromising host immunity. This work reveals a novel strategy that rust fungi exploit effectors to modulate host defense and facilitate pathogen infection.