2. Academic Validation
  3. The ZmWAKL-ZmWIK-ZmBLK1-ZmRBOH4 module provides quantitative resistance to gray leaf spot in maize

The ZmWAKL-ZmWIK-ZmBLK1-ZmRBOH4 module provides quantitative resistance to gray leaf spot in maize

  • Nat Genet. 2024 Jan 18. doi: 10.1038/s41588-023-01644-z.
Tao Zhong 1,  Mang Zhu 1,  Qianqian Zhang 1,  Yan Zhang 2,  Suining Deng 1,  Chenyu Guo 1,  Ling Xu 3,  Tingting Liu 4,  Yancong Li 4,  Yaqi Bi 5,  Xingming Fan 5,  Peter Balint-Kurti 6,  Mingliang Xu 7
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 State Key Laboratory of Plant Environmental Resilience/College of Agronomy and Biotechnology/National Maize Improvement Center/Center for Crop Functional Genomics and Molecular Breeding, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P.R. China.
  • 2 Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology, Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changchun, P.R. China.
  • 3 State Key Laboratory of Plant Environmental Resilience/College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P.R. China.
  • 4 Baoshan Institute of Agricultural Science, Baoshan, P.R. China.
  • 5 Institute of Food Crops, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Kunming, P.R. China.
  • 6 USDA-ARS Plant Science Research Unit, Raleigh NC and Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA.
  • 7 State Key Laboratory of Plant Environmental Resilience/College of Agronomy and Biotechnology/National Maize Improvement Center/Center for Crop Functional Genomics and Molecular Breeding, China Agricultural University, Beijing, P.R. China. [email protected].
PMID: 38238629 DOI: 10.1038/s41588-023-01644-z
Abstract

Gray leaf spot (GLS), caused by the Fungal pathogens Cercospora zeae-maydis and Cercospora zeina, is a major foliar disease of maize worldwide (Zea mays L.). Here we demonstrate that ZmWAKL encoding cell-wall-associated receptor kinase-like protein is the causative gene at the major quantitative disease resistance locus against GLS. The ZmWAKLY protein, encoded by the resistance allele, can self-associate and interact with a leucine-rich repeat immune-related kinase ZmWIK on the plasma membrane. The ZmWAKLY/ZmWIK receptor complex interacts with and phosphorylates the receptor-like cytoplasmic kinase (RLCK) ZmBLK1, which in turn phosphorylates its downstream NADPH Oxidase ZmRBOH4. Upon pathogen Infection, ZmWAKLY phosphorylation activity is transiently increased, initiating immune signaling from ZmWAKLY, ZmWIK, ZmBLK1 to ZmRBOH4, ultimately triggering a Reactive Oxygen Species burst. Our study thus uncovers the role of the maize ZmWAKL-ZmWIK-ZmBLK1-ZmRBOH4 receptor/signaling/executor module in perceiving the pathogen invasion, transducing immune signals, activating defense responses and conferring increased resistance to GLS.

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