TaULP5 contributes to the compatible interaction of adult plant resistance wheat seedlings-stripe rust pathogen

Adult plant resistance indicates that plant is susceptible to pathogen at seedling stage, but resistant at adult stage. Understanding the mechanism of the interactions between APR wheat plants and Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst) is important for the creation of strategies to improve cultivar disease resistance. In this study, a full-length cDNA was isolated from APR wheat cultivar Xingzi 9104 (XZ), and was designated as ubiquitin-like protein 5 (TaULP5). TaULP5 was likely to be located in the cytoplasm, with a percentage of 75.9% Arabidopsis protoplasts number. The expression of TaULP5 was largely induced in the compatible interaction of wheat seedlings to Pst, while no obvious change was found in the incompatible interaction of wheat adult plants to Pst. Moreover, when TaULP5 was knocked down, the wheat resistance at seedling stage to Pst was improved. In addition, knockdown of TaULP5 increased the expression levels of some biotic stress-related genes, such as PR1 and PR2. It is the first time to confirm that ubiquitin-like protein could contribute to the compatible interaction of XZ to Pst, and the results will lay a foundation for understanding the mechanisms of different interactions between APR wheat plants and Pst at post-translational level.