, An AP2/ERF Transcription Factor, Is Positively Involved in Wheat Resistance to f. sp. .

AP2 transcription factors play a crucial role in plant development and reproductive growth, as well as response to biotic and abiotic stress. However, the role of , in the interaction between wheat and the stripe fungus, f. sp. (), remains elusive. In this study, we isolated and characterized its function during the interaction. TaAP2-15 was localized in the nucleus of wheat and . Silencing of by barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV)-mediated VIGS (virus-induced gene silencing) increased the susceptibility of wheat to accompanied by enhanced growth of the pathogen (number of haustoria, haustorial mother cells and hyphal length). We confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR that the transcript levels of pathogenesis-related genes ( and ) were down-regulated, while reactive oxygen species (ROS)-scavenging genes ( and ) were induced accompanied by reduced accumulation of HO. Furthermore, we found that TaAP2-15 interacted with a zinc finger protein (TaRZFP34) that is a homolog of OsRZFP34 in rice. Together our findings demonstrate that is positively involved in resistance of wheat to the stripe rust fungus and provides new insights into the roles of AP2 in the host-pathogen interaction.