ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbe and Virus Interactions with Plants
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1570072
Effector Pt31812 from Puccinia triticina acts as avirulence factor for Lr42-mediated resistance in wheat
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, China
- 2Xingtai University, Xingtai Shi, Hebei Province, China
- 3Cangzhou Technical College, Cangzhou, China
- 4Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
- 5Dryland Farming Institute, Hebei Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Science, Hengshui, China
- 6Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
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As an obligate biotrophic fungus, the leaf rust pathogen Puccinia triticina (Pt) secretes a repertoire of effector proteins into host cells for modulating plant immunity and promoting fungal pathogenesis. Here, we identify the Pt31812 effector and characterize its function in pathogenesis and immune-related activity in plants. Pt31812 encodes candidate effector with a predicted signaling peptide (SP) at the N-terminus, and its expression was highly up-regulated during Pt infection of wheat. Subcellular localization analysis revealed that Pt31812 is localized in cytoplasm and nucleus when expressed in Nicotiana Benthamiana. Co-expression of Pt31812 and mammalian BAX protein revealed that Pt31812 inhibited BAX-induced cell death in N. Benthamiana, and the fragment of 22-88 aa from the N-terminus of the effector was important for the inhibiting activity. Interestingly, expression of Pt31812 in a panel of wheat differential lines with different Lr resistance genes showed that Pt31812 specifically triggered cell death in a Lr42-harboring wheat line. Furthermore, transient gene silencing of Pt31812 through BSMV-HIGS approach rendered loss of Lr42-mediated resistance against rust race Pt.-THSN and altered the infection type from resistant to susceptible. Our data reveal that Pt31812, as a candidate effector with immune inhibiting activity, acts as an avirulence determinant factor during Pt infection of Lr42-harboring wheat line. These findings highlight immune-related activity of specific Pt effectors and lay the foundation for further investigation into mechanisms of leaf rust fungal pathogenesis and recognition.
Keywords: wheat leaf rust, effector, Pt31812, avirulence gene, Pathogenesis, Lr42
Received: 02 Feb 2025; Accepted: 23 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Wei, Li, Qi, Zhang, Yang and Shen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
WenXiang Yang, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, China
QianHua Shen, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, 100101, Beijing Municipality, China
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