We report here on the genome sequence of Pasteurella multocida Razi 0002 of avian origin, isolated in Iran. The genome has a size of 2,289,036 bp, a GC content of 40.3%, and is predicted to contain 2,079 coding sequences.

Spot blotch, caused by Cochliobolus sativus, is an important foliar disease of barley. The disease has been controlled for over 40 years through the deployment of cultivars with durable resistance derived from the line NDB112. Pathotypes of C. sativus with virulence for the NDB112 resistance have been detected in Canada; thus, many commercial cultivars are vulnerable to spot blotch epidemics. To increase the diversity of spot blotch resistance in cultivated barley, we evaluated 318 diverse wild barley accessions comprising the Wild Barley Diversity Collection (WBDC) for reaction to C. sativus at the seedling stage and utilized an association mapping (AM) approach to identify and map resistance loci. A high frequency of resistance was found in the WBDC as 95% (302/318) of the accessions exhibited low infection responses. The WBDC was genotyped with 558 Diversity Array Technology (DArT®) and 2,878 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers and subjected to structure analysis before running the AM procedure. Thirteen QTL for spot blotch resistance were identified with DArT and SNP markers. These QTL were found on chromosomes 1H, 2H, 3H, 5H, and 7H and explained from 2.3 to 3.9% of the phenotypic variance. Nearly half of the identified QTL mapped to chromosome bins where spot blotch resistance loci were previously reported, offering some validation for the AM approach. The other QTL mapped to unique genomic regions and may represent new spot blotch resistance loci. This study demonstrates that AM is an effective technique for identifying and mapping QTL for disease resistance in a wild crop progenitor.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11032-010-9402-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Leaf rust, stem rust, and stripe rust are among the most important diseases of wheat and barley worldwide and are best controlled using genetic resistance. To increase the diversity of rust resistance in wheat and barley, a project was initiated to identify and characterise rust resistance genes from the wild species of Aegilops sharonensis (Sharon goatgrass) and Hordeum vulgare ssp. spontaneum (wild barley), respectively. One hundred and two accessions of Sharon goatgrass from Israel and 318 Wild Barley Diversity Collection (WBDC) accessions from the Fertile Crescent, Central Asia, North Africa, and the Caucasus region were evaluated for resistance to leaf rust, stem rust, and/or stripe rust. Sharon goatgrass exhibited a wide range of infection types (ITs) in response to leaf rust, stem rust, and stripe rust. The percentage of resistant accessions in Sharon goatgrass was 58.8-78.4% for leaf rust, 11.8-69.6% for stem rust, and 46.1% for stripe rust, depending on the race used and the plant growth stage. Genetic studies with Sharon goatgrass revealed oligogenic resistance to leaf rust and stem rust. Wild barley also exhibited a wide range of ITs to leaf rust and stem rust; however, the overall frequency of resistance was lower than for Sharon goatgrass. The percentage of resistant accessions in wild barley was 25.8% for leaf rust and 5.7-20.1% for stem rust, depending on the race used. Resistance to the new virulent stem rust race TTKS (i.e. Ug99), present in eastern Africa, was found in both Sharon goatgrass (70% of accessions) and wild barley (25% of 20 accessions tested). Association mapping for stem rust resistance was applied in the WBDC using Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT) markers. Using the highly conservative P value threshold of 0.001, 14 and 15 significant marker associations were detected when the number of subpopulations (K value) was set for 10 and 8, respectively. These significant associations were in 9 and 8 unique chromosome bins, respectively. Two significant marker associations were detected for resistance to the wheat stem rust race MCCF in the same bin as the rpg4/Rpg5 complex on chromosome 7(5H). The presence of a major stem rust resistance gene in this bin on chromosome 7(5H) was validated in a bi-parental mapping population (WBDC accession Damon × cv. Harrington) constructed with DArT markers. The results from this study indicate that Sharon goatgrass and wild barley are rich sources of rust resistance genes for cultivated wheat and barley improvement, respectively, and that association mapping may be useful for positioning disease resistance genes in wild barley.

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Data on AFLP (eight primer pairs) and 14 phenotypic traits, collected on 55 elite and exotic bread wheat genotypes, were utilized for estimations of genetic diversity. We earlier used these 55 genotypes for a similar study using SSRs and SAMPL. As many as 615 scorable AFLP bands visualized included 287 (46.6%) polymorphic bands. The phenotypic traits included yield and its component traits, as well as physiomorphological traits like flag leaf area. Dendrograms were prepared using cluster analysis based on Jaccard's similarity coefficients in case of AFLP and on squared Euclidean distances in case of phenotypic traits. PCA was conducted using AFLP data and a PCA plot was prepared, which was compared with clustering patterns in two dendrograms, one each for AFLP and phenotypic traits. The results were also compared with published results that included studies conducted elsewhere using entirely different wheat germplasm and our own SSR and SAMPL studies based on the same 55 genotypes used in the present study. It was shown that molecular markers are superior to phenotypic traits and that AFLP and SAMPL are superior to other molecular markers for estimation of genetic diversity. On the basis of AFLP analysis and keeping in view the yield performance and stability, a pair of genotypes (E3876 and E677) was recommended for hybridization in order to develop superior cultivars.