With the requirement to breed more productive crop plants in order to feed a growing global population, compounded by increasingly widespread resistance to pesticides exhibited by pathogens, plant immunity is becoming an increasingly important area of research. Of the genes that contribute to disease resistance, the wall-associated receptor-like kinases (WAKs) are increasingly shown to play a major role, in addition to their contribution to plant growth and development or tolerance to abiotic stresses. Being transmembrane proteins, WAKs form a central pillar of a plant cell’s ability to monitor and interact with the extracellular environment. Found in both dicots and monocots, WAKs have been implicated in defence against pathogens with diverse lifestyles and contribute to plant immunity in a variety of ways. Whilst some act as cell surface-localized immune receptors recognizing either pathogen- or plant-derived invasion molecules (e.g. effectors or damage-associated molecular patterns, respectively), others promote innate immunity through cell wall modification and strengthening, thus limiting pathogen intrusion. The ability of some WAKs to provide both durable resistance against pathogens and other agronomic benefits makes this gene family important targets in the development of future crop ideotypes and important to a greater understanding of the complexity and robustness of plant immunity.

中文翻译：

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唤醒植物免疫力，减少疾病

为了养活不断增长的全球人口，需要培育出更高产的农作物，再加上对病原体表现出的杀虫剂的耐药性日益广泛，植物免疫正成为一个越来越重要的研究领域。在有助于抗病性的基因中，壁相关受体样激酶 (WAK) 越来越多地被证明发挥着重要作用，除了它们对植物生长和发育或对非生物胁迫的耐受性。作为跨膜蛋白，WAKs 形成了植物细胞监测细胞外环境并与细胞外环境相互作用的能力的核心支柱。在双子叶植物和单子叶植物中都发现了 WAK，它与多种生活方式的病原体的防御有关，并以多种方式促进植物免疫。虽然一些作为细胞表面定位的免疫受体识别病原体或植物衍生的入侵分子（例如，分别为效应物或损伤相关分子模式），但另一些通过细胞壁修饰和强化促进先天免疫，从而限制病原体入侵。一些 WAK 能够提供对病原体的持久抵抗力和其他农艺益处，这使得该基因家族成为未来作物独特型发展的重要目标，并且对于更深入地了解植物免疫的复杂性和稳健性很重要。从而限制病原体入侵。一些 WAK 能够提供对病原体的持久抵抗力和其他农艺益处，这使得该基因家族成为未来作物独特型发展的重要目标，并且对于更深入地了解植物免疫的复杂性和稳健性很重要。从而限制病原体入侵。一些 WAK 能够提供对病原体的持久抵抗力和其他农艺益处，这使得该基因家族成为未来作物独特型发展的重要目标，并且对于更深入地了解植物免疫的复杂性和稳健性很重要。