In plants, wall associated kinases (WAKs) form a unique subfamily of receptor like-kinases (RLKs). In Arabidopsis thaliana, WAK-RLKs are known to regulate biotic stress, cell expansion, and metal tolerance, but their detailed characterization in barley is lacking. In this study, we identified a total of 91 WAK genes in the barley genome and classified them into five groups. Evolutionary analysis of HvWAKs with AtWAKs revealed their species-specific expansion. The maximum number (19 to 20) of WAK genes were located on chromosomes 3, 5 and 6. WAK proteins exhibited similar types of motif distribution in their group. Characterization of a Ds transposon insertion mutant of the wak1 revealed differences in the root length. Further, HvSPL23 transcription factor was identified as a positive co-expressing gene with HvWAK1, suggesting its possible upstream regulator. Taken together, our study provides a base for the functional characterization of WAK family members in the future.

在植物中，壁相关激酶 (WAK) 形成受体样激酶 (RLK) 的独特亚家族。在拟南芥中，已知 WAK-RLK 可调节生物胁迫、细胞扩增和金属耐受性，但缺乏它们在大麦中的详细表征。在这项研究中，我们在大麦基因组中鉴定了总共 91 个WAK基因，并将它们分为五组。HvWAKs 与 AtWAKs 的进化分析揭示了它们的物种特异性扩张。WAK基因的最大数量（19 至 20）位于染色体 3、5 和 6。WAK 蛋白在其组中表现出相似类型的基序分布。wak1的Ds转座子插入突变体的表征揭示了根长的差异。此外，HvSPL23转录因子被鉴定为与HvWAK1的阳性共表达基因，表明其可能是上游调节因子。总之，我们的研究为未来WAK家族成员的功能表征提供了基础。