The Wheat Wall-Associated Receptor-Like Kinase TaWAK-6D Mediates Broad Resistance to Two Fungal Pathogens and .

The soil-borne fungi and are the major pathogens for the economically important diseases crown rot (FCR) and sharp eyespot of common wheat (), respectively. However, there has been no report on the broad resistance of wheat genes against both and . In the current study, we identified , a wall-associated kinase (WAK) which is an encoding gene located on chromosome 6D, and demonstrated its broad resistance role in the wheat responses to both and infection. transcript induction by and was related to the resistance degree of wheat and the gene expression was significantly induced by exogenous pectin treatment. Silencing of compromised wheat resistance to and , and repressed the expression of a serial of wheat defense-related genes. Ectopic expression of in positively modulated the expression of several defense-related genes. TaWAK-6D protein was determined to localize to the plasma membrane in wheat and . Collectively, the TaWAK-6D at the plasma membrane mediated the broad resistance responses to both and in wheat at the seedling stage. This study, therefore, concludes that is a promising gene for improving wheat broad resistance to FCR and sharp eyespot.