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Plant–pathogen interactions result in disease development in a susceptible host. Plants actively resist pathogens via a complex immune system comprising both surface-localized receptors that sense the extracellular space as well as intracellular receptors recognizing pathogen effectors. To date, the majority of cloned resistance genes encode intracellular nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat receptor proteins. Recent discoveries have revealed tandem kinase proteins (TKPs) as another important family of intracellular proteins involved in plant immune responses. Five TKP genes—barley Rpg1 and wheat WTK1 (Yr15), WTK2 (Sr60), WTK3 (Pm24), and WTK4—protect against devastating fungal diseases. Moreover, a large diversity and numerous putative TKPs exist across the plant kingdom. This review explores our current knowledge of TKPs and serves as a basis for future studies that aim to develop and exploit a deeper understanding of innate plant immunity receptor proteins. [Formula: see text] Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license . 

Abstract Rye ( Secale cereale L.) is an exceptionally climate-resilient cereal crop, used extensively to produce improved wheat varieties via introgressive hybridization and possessing the entire repertoire of genes necessary to enable hybrid breeding. Rye is allogamous and only recently domesticated, thus giving cultivated ryes access to a diverse and exploitable wild gene pool. To further enhance the agronomic potential of rye, we produced a chromosome-scale annotated assembly of the 7.9-gigabase rye genome and extensively validated its quality by using a suite of molecular genetic resources. We demonstrate applications of this resource with a broad range of investigations. We present findings on cultivated rye’s incomplete genetic isolation from wild relatives, mechanisms of genome structural evolution, pathogen resistance, low-temperature tolerance, fertility control systems for hybrid breeding and the yield benefits of rye–wheat introgressions.