Mapping QTL for Adult-Plant Resistance to Stripe Rust in a Chinese Wheat Landrace

Abstract

Wheat stripe (yellow) rust is a worldwide disease that seriously reduces wheat grain yield and quality. Adult-plant resistance (APR) to stripe rust is generally more durable but usually controlled by multiple genes with partial resistance. In this study, a recombinant inbred line population was developed from a cross between a Chinese wheat landrace, Tutoumai, with APR to stripe rust, and a highly susceptible wheat cultivar, Siyang 936. The population was genotyped by genotyping-by-sequencing and phenotyped for APR to stripe rust in four consecutive field experiments. Three QTLs, QYr.sdau-1BL, QYr.sdau-5BL, and QYr.sdau-6BL, were identified for APR to stripe rust, and explained 8.0–21.2%, 10.1–22.7%, and 11.6–18.0% of the phenotypic variation, respectively. QYr.sdau-1BL was further mapped to a 21.6 Mb region using KASP markers derived from SNPs identified by RNA-seq of the two parents. In the QYr.sdau-1BL region, 13 disease-resistance-related genes were differently expressed between the two parents, and therefore were considered as the putative candidates of QYr.sdau-1BL. This study provides favorable gene/QTL and high-throughput markers to breeding programs for marker-assisted selection of the wheat stripe rust APR genes.

Quantitative Trait Loci Mapping for Adult-Plant Stripe Rust Resistance in Chinese Wheat Cultivar Weimai 8

“…Yr17 in wheat originated from the 2NS/2AS translocation of Triticum ventricosum ensuing in the hexaploid wheat line VPM1 that was originally made to transfer eyespot resistance to bread wheat [67,68]. This chromosomal fragment comprises a gene cluster including Yr17 for stripe rust, Lr37 for leaf rust, and Sr38 for stem rust; and it has been broadly used in wheat-breeding programs worldwide [69]. Yr17 is an adult plant resistance gene, which can be expressed in the field and greenhouse.…”