Discovery of functional NLRs using expression level, high-throughput transformation and large-scale phenotyping

Area of Science:

• Plant Science
• Genetics
• Agricultural Science

Background:

• Crop diseases threaten food security and sustainable agriculture.
• Enhancing plant immunity with resistance genes is effective but identifying new ones is challenging.
• Nucleotide-binding domain leucine-rich repeat (NLR) proteins are key plant immune receptors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an efficient pipeline for identifying novel plant immune receptors.
• To discover new resistance genes for wheat using a high-throughput approach.
• To accelerate the development of disease-resistant crops.

Main Methods:

• Observed high expression signature of functional NLRs in uninfected plants across species.
• Generated a wheat transgenic array of 995 NLRs from diverse grass species.
• Utilized high-throughput transformation and in planta gene validation.

Main Results:

• Successfully identified new resistance genes against wheat stem rust (Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici).
• Discovered new resistance genes against wheat leaf rust (Puccinia triticina).
• Validated the pipeline for rapid identification and validation of candidate NLRs.

Conclusions:

• The developed pipeline facilitates rapid discovery of candidate NLRs for crop disease resistance.
• Accelerated discovery of NLRs from diverse gene pools enhances development of resistant crops.
• This approach significantly contributes to sustainable agriculture and food security.