A NAC Transcription Factor TuNAC69 Contributes to ANK-NLR-WRKY NLR-Mediated Stripe Rust Resistance in the Diploid Wheat Triticum urartu .

Stripe rust is one of the most devastating diseases in wheat. Nucleotide-binding site (NBS) and leucine-rich repeat (LRR) domain receptors (NLRs) recognize pathogenic effectors and trigger plant immunity. We previously identified a unique NLR protein YrU1 in the diploid wheat , which contains an N-terminal ANK domain and a C-terminal WRKY domain and confers disease resistance to stripe rust fungus   f. sp. (). However, how YrU1 functions in disease resistance is not clear. In this study, through the RNA-seq analysis, we found that the expression of a NAC member was significantly up-regulated after inoculation with in the presence of YrU1. TuNAC69 was mainly localized in the nucleus and showed transcriptional activation in yeast. Knockdown in diploid wheat PI428309 that contains YrU1 by virus-induced gene silencing reduced the resistance to stripe rust. In addition, overexpression of in enhanced the resistance to powdery mildew . In summary, our study indicates that TuNAC69 participates in the immune response mediated by NLR protein YrU1, and likely plays an important role in disease resistance to other pathogens.