Background Yellow or stripe rust, caused by the fungus Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst) is an important disease of wheat that threatens wheat production. Since developing resistant cultivars offers a viable solution for disease management, it is essential to understand the genetic basis of stripe rust resistance. In recent years, meta-QTL analysis of identified QTLs has gained popularity as a way to dissect the genetic architecture underpinning quantitative traits, including disease resistance. Results Systematic meta-QTL analysis involving 505 QTLs from 101 linkage-based interval mapping studies was conducted for stripe rust resistance in wheat. For this purpose, publicly available high-quality genetic maps were used to create a consensus linkage map involving 138,574 markers. This map was used to project the QTLs and conduct meta-QTL analysis. A total of 67 important meta-QTLs (MQTLs) were identified which were refined to 29 high-confidence MQTLs. The confidence interval (CI) of MQTLs ranged from 0 to 11.68 cM with a mean of 1.97 cM. The mean physical CI of MQTLs was 24.01 Mb, ranging from 0.0749 to 216.23 Mb per MQTL. As many as 44 MQTLs colocalized with marker–trait associations or SNP peaks associated with stripe rust resistance in wheat. Some MQTLs also included the following major genes- Yr5, Yr7, Yr16, Yr26, Yr30, Yr43, Yr44, Yr64, YrCH52, and YrH52. Candidate gene mining in high-confidence MQTLs identified 1,562 gene models. Examining these gene models for differential expressions yielded 123 differentially expressed genes, including the 59 most promising CGs. We also studied how these genes were expressed in wheat tissues at different phases of development. Conclusion The most promising MQTLs identified in this study may facilitate marker-assisted breeding for stripe rust resistance in wheat. Information on markers flanking the MQTLs can be utilized in genomic selection models to increase the prediction accuracy for stripe rust resistance. The candidate genes identified can also be utilized for enhancing the wheat resistance against stripe rust after in vivo confirmation/validation using one or more of the following methods: gene cloning, reverse genetic methods, and omics approaches.

Stemphylium blight is the most serious and devastating disease of onion limiting the quality and quantity of both bulb and seed. Molecular analysis using 9 RAPD primers was done to assess the genetic diversity among the 36 S. vesicarium isolates from onion obtained from different geographical areas of Kashmir valley. All the 9 RAPD markers used during the present study revealed a moderate level of polymorphism in different isolates of S. vesicarium. In the present study maximum scored bands were 160 in SV-A04 marker with maximum polymorphic bands (10) showing 6.25 per cent polymorphism. The lowest scored bands were 7 in marker "SV-F02" with only two polymorphic bands showing 28.57 per cent polymorphism. In total, 579 bands were scored of which 54 were polymorphic, thereby showing 9.32 per cent polymorphism. Genetic dissimilarity of the isolates varied from 1.00 to 0.14.The present study provides insights into the extent of genetic diversity available in 36 S. vesicarium isolates from onion obtained from different geographical areas of Kashmir valley.