Creation and judicious application of a wheat resistance gene atlas

Abstract

Disease-resistance (R) gene cloning in wheat (Triticum aestivum) has been accelerated by the recent surge of genomic resources, facilitated by advances in sequencing technologies and bioinformatics. However, with the challenges of population growth and climate change, it is vital not only to clone and functionally characterize a few handfuls of R genes, but also to do so at a scale that would facilitate the breeding and deployment of crops that can recognize the wide range of pathogen effectors that threaten agroecosystems. Pathogen populations are continually changing, and breeders must have tools and resources available to rapidly respond to those changes if we are to safeguard our daily bread. To meet this challenge, we propose the creation of a wheat R-gene atlas by an international community of researchers and breeders. The atlas would consist of an online directory from which sources of resistance could be identified and deployed to achieve more durable resistance to the major wheat pathogens, such as wheat rusts, blotch diseases, powdery mildew, and wheat blast. We present a costed proposal detailing how the interacting molecular components governing disease resistance could be captured from both the host and the pathogen through biparental mapping, mutational genomics, and whole-genome association genetics. We explore options for the configuration and genotyping of diversity panels of hexaploid and tetraploid wheat, as well as their wild relatives and major pathogens, and discuss how the atlas could inform a dynamic, durable approach to R-gene deployment. Set against the current magnitude of wheat yield losses worldwide, recently estimated at 21%, this endeavor presents one route for bringing R genes from the lab to the field at a considerable speed and quantity.

Dynamic Diversity of NLR Genes in Triticum and Mining of Promising NLR Alleles for Disease Resistance

“…In this study, we identified the NLR gene atlas from the hexaploid wheat reference genome "Chinese Spring" (IWGSC RefSeq v1.1) and investigated the landscape of diversity of NLRs in Triticum and Aegilops populations. Consistent with previous studies [39,40], we found that wild progenitors and wheat relatives constitute reservoirs of genetic diversity of NLR genes, which can be exploited and deployed in modern wheat for disease resistance, especially for diploid DD relatives (strangulata, meyeri, and anathera). Furthermore, we quantified the genetic diversity of annotated NLR genes using ORS and constructed a map of dynamic diversity at the genus level for Triticum and Aegilops.…”

Unravelling consensus genomic regions conferring leaf rust resistance in wheat via meta‐QTL analysis

“…To strengthen the location of MQTL discovered in this study, a search for colocalization of leaf rust resistance genes and MQTL was performed. More than 61 leaf rust genes have been mapped and documented in wheat (Kim et al, 2020), and four of them have been cloned (Hafeez et al, 2021). A total of six The Plant Genome F I G U R E 4 Level 2 gene ontology (GO) terms for differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the hcmQTL regions leaf rust genes (Lr13,Lr14a,Lr46,Lr68,Lr63,Lr60,Lr42,and Lr41) were found to colocalize with MQTL.…”

Deciphering the Host–Pathogen Interactome of the Wheat–Common Bunt System: A Step towards Enhanced Resilience in Next Generation Wheat

“…With the use of genomics and bioinformatics, a wheat R-gene atlas was constructed consisting of resistance genes against wheat pathogens. The R-gene atlas contains 16 genes ( Bt1 - Bt15 , Btp ) associated with bunt, and these genes were located on chromosomes 1B, 2B, 2D, 3B, and 6D [ 77 ]. Combining the information from the above-mentioned resources, we identified the proteins belonging to the bunt resistance chromosomes.…”