Authors
Siyue Zhang, Jiaxue Peng, Zihan Fu, Yuxiang Li, Qiang Yao, Xiaoping Hu
Published in
Molecular plant pathology. Volume 27. Issue 9. Pages e70336.
Abstract
Wheat stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), is a globally destructive disease characterised by rapid virulence evolution. Despite its significance, the genetic basis of avirulence variation at a global scale remains poorly understood. In this study, we integrated virulence phenotypes against 18 Yr resistance genes with genome-wide variation from a worldwide collection of Pst isolates to resolve the population-genomic architecture of avirulence. We identified multiple avirulence-associated genomic regions and defined 69 candidate effectors, with 11 high-confidence candidates meeting five stringent criteria based on effector properties and association significance. Allele frequency analyses revealed striking geographic differentiation; many variants showed high or near-fixation in specific regions, notably East Africa, South America and inland China, while remaining rare elsewhere. This pattern indicates a strong population structure driven by regionally confined polymorphisms in host-recognition genes. Furthermore, structural modelling supported direct molecular recognition between the resistance protein Yr9 and multiple candidate AvYr9 effectors, providing mechanistic insights into specificity. Together, this study establishes a global population-genomic framework for effector discovery and elucidates virulence evolution in Pst. These candidates represent valuable resources for understanding rust pathogenicity and developing durable resistance in wheat.
PMID:
42779367
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 24 Sep 2026.
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