A casein kinase TaCK2α contributes to wheat resistance to Puccinia triticina

Abstract

Abstract Background The casein kinase 2 (CK2), one of the major multifunctional protein kinases in plant cells, is expressed ubiquitously and is essential for survival in response to different stresses. However, the role of CK2 in the interaction between wheat and Puccinia triticina (Pt) is still unknown. Results Our earlier studies have found that one casein kinase CK2 named TaCK2α was screened from RNA-seq data in wheat line TcLr19 inoculated by Pt. In this study, quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) analysis showed that TaCK2αexpression was induced by Pt race PHNT and signaling molecules, suggesting that it might play a role in the interaction of wheat-Pt associated with abscisic acid (ABA) and ethylene (ETH) signaling molecules. To further determine the function of the TaCK2αgene in wheat resistance to Pt, protein-mediated phenotyping assays in vivo and antifungal activity assays in vitrodemonstrated that wheat leaves infiltrated with pure TaCK2α protein developed significantly less disease compared to control leaves. Then virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) system confirmed that TaCK2α was involved in regulating wheat resistance to Pt. In addition, 24 candidates with potential interacting with TaCK2α (2 disease resistance related protein, 11 stress resistance related protein, 1 photosynthesis related proteins, and 10 functional indeterminate protein) were selected in wheat by pull-down assay combination with mass spectrometry (MS). Conclusions Overall, our results indicate that TaCK2α gene mediated wheat resistance to Pt, laying a good foundation to analyze the molecular mechanisms of CK2 in plant resistance to biotic stress.