To safeguard bread wheat against pests and diseases, breeders have introduced over 200 resistance genes into its genome, thus nearly doubling the number of designated resistance genes in the wheat gene pool1. Isolating these genes facilitates their fast-tracking in breeding programs and incorporation into polygene stacks for more durable resistance. We cloned the stem rust resistance gene Sr43, which was crossed into bread wheat from the wild grass Thinopyrum elongatum2,3. Sr43 encodes an active protein kinase fused to two domains of unknown function. The gene, which is unique to the Triticeae, appears to have arisen through a gene fusion event 6.7 to 11.6 million years ago. Transgenic expression of Sr43 in wheat conferred high levels of resistance to a wide range of isolates of the pathogen causing stem rust, highlighting the potential value of Sr43 in resistance breeding and engineering.

Bioscience Program Smart Health Initiative BESE KAUST Thuwal Saudi Arabia

Blades Foundation Evanston IL USA

Center for Desert Agriculture KAUST Thuwal Saudi Arabia

Centre for Agricultural Research ELKH Agricultural Institute Martonvásár Hungary

Centre of the Region Haná for Biotechnological and Agricultural Research Institute of Experimental Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences Olomouc Czech Republic

Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences Cologne Germany

Crop Improvement and Genetics Research Unit USDA ARS Western Regional Research Center Albany CA USA

Department of Agroecology Aarhus University Slagelse Denmark

Department of Plant Biochemistry Centre of Plant Molecular Biology University of Tübingen Tübingen Germany

Department of Plant Pathology Kansas State University Manhattan KS USA

Department of Plant Pathology University of Minnesota St Paul MN USA

Enko Chem Mystic CT USA

Institute for Cereal Crops Research and the School of Plant Sciences and Food Security Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv Israel

Institute for Cereal Crops Research Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv Israel

Institute for Plant Sciences University of Cologne Cologne Germany

John Innes Centre Norwich Research Park Norwich UK

Plant Science Program Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering Division Thuwal Saudi Arabia

Red Sea Research Center BESE KAUST Thuwal Saudi Arabia

The Sainsbury Laboratory University of East Anglia Norwich UK

USDA ARS Cereal Disease Laboratory St Paul MN USA

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Nat Genet. 2023 Jun;55(6):908-909. doi: 10.1038/s41588-023-01396-w. PubMed

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