| To explore the role of WAK-like genes in barley (Hordeum vulgare L. var. nudum Hook. f) in leaf stripe resistance, with a leaf stripe resistant barley variety Kunlun 14 and a susceptible variety Z1141 as materials, HvnWAK genes were cloned from leaves of the two hulless barley varieties. The open reading frame (ORF) of the HvnWAK gene of Kunlun 14 was 2 964 bp and the ORF of Z1141 was 3 048 bp, encoding 988 amino acids and 1 016 amino acids, respectively, with an amino acid sequence identity of 97.14%. The promoter region prediction indicated that this region contained multiple cis-acting elements of abscisic acid, jasmonic acid, and gibberellin associated with adversity stress, et al. Protein sequence analysis showed that HvnWAK was a hydrophilic unstable acidic protein with typical cell wall-associated kinases, such as cell wall receptor structure(GUB_WAK_bind), intracellular kinase structural domain(intracellular kinase structural domain), transmembrane domain, and epidermal growth factor(EGF) structural domain, which belonged to the WAK family. Homology comparison and phylogenetic analysis showed that the HvnWAK protein of Kunlun 14 had 97.24%, 92.17%, and 80.80% sequence similarity with the WAK proteins of barley, Aegilops tauschii, and Lolium rigidum, respectively; Meanwhile the HvnWAK protein of Z1141 had 100%, 92.17%, and 80.80% sequence similarity with the WAK proteins of barley, Aegilops tauschii, and Lolium rigidum, respectively. The HvnWAK protein was most closely related to the barley HvWAK protein and more distantly related to maize and rice. The predicted results of protein interactions showed that interactions with WAK proteins existed with disease resistance protein homologs, decapping enzyme family proteins, and threonine protein kinases. Quantitative real-time fluorescence(qRT-PCR) analysis showed that the gene was rapidly expressed after susceptibility to disease, and the peak in the disease-resistant material Kunlun 14 was significantly higher than that in Z1141(P<0.01), and the peak period (8—9 weeks) was later than that in Z1141 (7—8 weeks). It is hypothesized that the HvnWAK gene plays an important regulatory role in the later stages of leaf stripe resistance in hulless barley. |