Search for: All records

Summary Plants have evolved a sophisticated immunity system for specific detection of pathogens and rapid induction of measured defences. Over‐ or constitutive activation of defences would negatively affect plant growth and development. Hence, the plant immune system is under tight positive and negative regulation. MAP kinase phosphatase1 (MKP1) has been identified as a negative regulator of plant immunity in model plantArabidopsis. However, the molecular mechanisms by which MKP1 regulates immune signalling in wheat (Triticum aestivum) are poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the role of TaMKP1 in wheat defence against two devastating fungal pathogens and determined its subcellular localization. We demonstrated that knock‐down ofTaMKP1by CRISPR/Cas9 in wheat resulted in enhanced resistance to rust caused byPuccinia striiformisf. sp.tritici(Pst) and powdery mildew caused byBlumeria graminisf. sp.tritici(Bgt), indicating thatTaMKP1negatively regulates disease resistance in wheat. Unexpectedly, whileTamkp1mutant plants showed increased resistance to the two tested fungal pathogens they also had higher yield compared with wild‐type control plants without infection. Our results suggested that TaMKP1 interacts directly with dephosphorylated and activated TaMPK3/4/6, and TaMPK4 interacts directly with TaPAL. Taken together, we demonstrated TaMKP1 exert negative modulating roles in the activation of TaMPK3/4/6, which are required for MAPK‐mediated defence signalling. This facilitates our understanding of the important roles of MAP kinase phosphatases and MAPK cascades in plant immunity and production, and provides germplasm resources for breeding for high resistance and high yield.