Calcineurin plays a key role in morphogenesis, pathogenesis and drug resistance in most fungi. However, the function of calcineurin genes in Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst) is unclear. We identified and characterized the calcineurin genes PsCNA1 and PsCNB1 in Pst. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that PsCNA1 and PsCNB1 form a calcium/calmodulin regulated protein phosphatase belonging to...

Stripe rust caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, is a devastating wheat disease in the world. The prediction of this disease is very important to make control strategies. In order to figure out suitable prediction methods based on neural networks that could provide accurate prediction information with high stability, the predictions of wheat stripe rust by using backpropagation networ...

RAR1 is a eukaryotic zinc-binding protein first identified as required for race-specific resistance to powdery mildew in barley. To study the function of TaRAR1 involvement in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) defense against the infection of stripe rust pathogen Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), we identified and cloned three wheat homeologous genes highly similar to the barley HvRar1, des...

Pheophorbide a oxygenase (PaO) is a key enzyme in chlorophyll catabolism that is known to suppress cell death in maize and Arabidopsis. The catalytic activity of PaO in chlorophyll degradation has been clearly demonstrated, but the function of PaO in the regulation of cell death and plant-microbe interactions is largely unknown. In this study, we characterized a PaO homologue in wheat of the le...

Small RNAs (sRNAs), an important type of pathogenicity factor, contribute to impairing host immune responses. However, little is known about sRNAs in Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), one of the most destructive pathogens of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Here, we report a novel microRNA-like RNA (milRNA) from Pst termed microRNA-like RNA 1 (Pst-milR1), which suppresses wheat defenses d...

Wheat stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), is one of the most important diseases of wheat worldwide. Understanding the survival of Pst during the overwintering period is critical for predicting Pst epidemics in the spring. Real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) methods quantifying Pst DNA and RNA (cDNA) were developed and compared for the ability to quantify viable Pst i...