ABSTRACT Wheat diseases caused by rapidly evolving fungal pathogens remain a major constraint on global crop production and food security. Nucleotide‐binding leucine‐rich repeat (NLR) proteins are a major class of intracellular immune receptors that mediate effector‐triggered immunity and play central roles in resistance to rusts, powdery mildew, and other fungal diseases. Recent advances in wheat genomics, pan‐genomics, and targeted cloning technologies have greatly accelerated the identification and characterization of NLR genes, revealing extensive diversity in their sequence composition, domain architecture, genomic organization, and evolutionary dynamics. In this review, we synthesize current knowledge of the wheat NLRome, with emphasis on structural variation, functional diversity, and the expanding catalogue of experimentally validated resistance genes. We discuss the molecular basis of NLR‐mediated recognition and activation, including direct and indirect effector detection, paired NLR systems, tandem kinase‐NLR modules, and resistosome formation. We also highlight the major genomics‐assisted approaches that have transformed wheat resistance‐gene discovery, including RenSeq, MutRenSeq, AgRenSeq, long‐read sequencing, and emerging high‐throughput functional validation platforms. By integrating genomic diversity, molecular mechanism, and translational breeding perspectives, this review provides a comprehensive and updated framework for understanding NLR‐mediated immunity in wheat. This synthesis not only clarifies current progress in wheat immune receptor biology, but also outlines future directions for resistance‐gene discovery, functional validation, and the development of durable disease‐resistant wheat cultivars.
Zamir et al. (Fri,) studied this question.