Molecular Pathogens, 2025, Vol.16, No.4, 159-170 http://microbescipublisher.com/index.php/mp 162 directly or indirectly recognize these effectors, which in turn triggers a strong immune response. ETI usually manifests as faster and more intense defenses than PTI, including the occurrence of allergic cell death (HR) at the site of infection at the expense of local cells to curb pathogen expansion. Research shows that the signaling pathways between ETI and PTI are not independent, but are closely connected and mutually promoted. When ETI occurs, it is often accompanied by stronger activation of PTI-related ROS bursts, kinase cascades, etc., which jointly ensure the effective clearance of the pathogen. A newly discovered disease-resistant complex WTK3-WTN1 in wheat, quickly assembled into a transmembrane cation channel after identification of pathogenic effectors, resulting in Ca2+ inflow and triggering an allergic reaction (Lu et al., 2025). At the same time, wheat ETI signal can also induce plant production system to obtain resistance (SAR) by activating global defense genes such as NPR1, thereby increasing alertness in uninfected tissues. In addition to activating resistant proteins, plants in the ETI reaction also inhibit certain "sensitivity factors" that are exploited by pathogens. The striped rust effector PsSpg1 can bind to and activate it, a cytoplasmic kinase encoded by wheat, to promote rust infection; while varieties carrying anti-rust genes can recognize PsSpg1 and cause TaPsIPK1-mediated pathway failure. If TaPsIPK1 is knocked out through gene editing, even if there is no corresponding resistance gene, wheat will become immune to various rust diseases because it loses the pathway to be "hijacked" by the effector. This reflects the complexity of ETI and host-sensitivity gene regulation, and is also a new direction in research on antipathologic mechanisms in recent years (Hurley et al., 2014). 4 Anti-Disease-Related Transcriptional Regulation and Gene Expression Network 4.1 The key role of transcription factors in anti-disease response During plant disease-resistant signaling, transcription factors play a key role in converting upstream signals into changes in gene expression. The wheat genome encodes a large number of transcription factors from different families, among which members of WRKY, NAC, bZIP, MYB, AP2/ERF and other families were confirmed to be involved in the regulation of resistance to fungal diseases. For example, the WRKY family is named after it is rich in conservative WRKYGQK sequences, and its members are mostly positive or negative regulators in anti-disease responses. Some TaWRKY genes are rapidly upregulated during pathogen infection, activate the expression of defense-related secondary metabolism and disease course-related protein (PR protein) genes; while others are involved in feedback inhibition to avoid damage to the plants themselves by excessively strong immune responses. NAC family transcription factors also play a role in wheat's disease resistance. Studies have shown that TaNAC-like factors not only respond to pathogen induction, but also regulate the expression of downstream defense genes such as antimicrobial peptides. At the same time, NAC factors also interact with hormone signals (such as jasmonic acid and salicylic acid pathways), thereby affecting the level of disease resistance (Vranić et al., 2023). bZIP family transcription factors are often associated with reactive oxygen species and antiretrograde reactions. Some TabZIP genes are activated after infection with Powdery Bacteria. The encoded protein binds to specific promoter sequences, promotes the transcription of antioxidant enzymes and disease-related protein genes, and enhances the cell's disease resistance. 4.2 Regulation of non-coding RNA against disease genes In addition to protein-encoding genes, a large number of non-coding RNAs in plants are also involved in the regulation of disease resistance. Among them, microRNA (miRNA) and long-chain non-coding RNA (lncRNA) are the two most studied categories. MiRNAs are a class of single-stranded small RNAs about 21~24 nt in length that can bind to target genes through base complementary pairing, thereby mediating their degradation or translational repression. Plant miRNAs function extensively in development and adversity responses. A study has proposed a model of co-evolution of plant miRNAs and disease-resistant genes by analyzing the disease-resistant genes and miRNA data of 70 terrestrial plants: different miRNAs finely regulate the expression of these genes by targeting the conserved domains of disease-resistant gene mRNAs, thereby affecting the immune response. In model plants, miR393 regulates immunity by targeting auxin receptor genes, and the expression of some wheat miRNAs significantly changes under pathogenic infestation conditions. For example, miR164, miR398, etc. are believed to be related to rust and powdery mildew resistance. By regulating the expression level of this type of miRNA, the host's disease resistance can be affected. Another class of long-chain non-coding RNA (lncRNA)
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