Molecular cytogenetics and St-chromosome-specific molecular markers development of novel stripe rust resistant wheat–Thinopyrum intermedium as well as wheat–Thinopyrum ponticum substitution lines

Abstract

Background Owing to the excellent resistance to abiotic and biotic stress, Thionpyrum intermedium (2n = 6x = 42, JJJsJsStSt) and Thinopyrum ponticum (2n = 10x = 70) are both widely utilized in wheat germplasm innovation programs. Disomic substitution lines (DSLs) carrying one pair of alien chromosomes are valuable bridge materials for novel genes transmission, FISH karyotype construction and specific molecular marker development. Results Six wheat–Thinopyrum DSLs derived from crosses between Abbondanza nullisomic lines (2n = 40) and two octoploid Trititrigia lines (2n = 8x = 56), were characterized by a sequential fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH)–genome in situ hybridization (GISH), a multicolor GISH (mc-GISH), and an analysis of wheat 15K SNP array combined with molecular marker selection. ES-9 (DS2St (2A)) and ES-10 (DS3St (3D)) are wheat–Th. ponticum DSLs, while ES-23 (DS2St (2A)), ES-24 (DS3St (3D)), ES-25(DS2St (2B)), and ES-26 (DS2St (2D)) are wheat–Th. intermedium DSLs. ES-9, ES-23, ES-25 and ES-26 conferred higher thousand-kernel weight and stripe rust resistance at adult stages, while ES-10 and ES-24 performed highly resistant to stripe rust at all stages. Furthermore, cytological analysis showed that the alien chromosomes (2St/3St) belonging to the same homoeologous group derived from different donors carried the same FISH karyotype and could normally form a bivalent. Based on specific-locus amplified fragment sequencing (SLAF-seq), two 2St-chromosome-specific markers (PTH-005 and PTH-013) and two 3St-chromosome-specific markers (PTH-113 and PTH-135) were developed. Conclusions The six wheat–Thinopyrum disomic substitution lines conferring stripe rust resistance will be used as bridging parents for valuable resistant genes transmission. And the utility of PTH-113 and PTH-135 in a BC1F2 population showed the newly developed markers could be useful tools for efficient identification of St chromosomes in a common wheat background.