Hanzalová A., Bartoš P., Sumíková T. (2017) In 2012-2015 the virulence of the wheat leaf rust (Puccinia triticina Eriks.) population was studied on Thatcher near-isogenic lines with Lr1, Lr2a, Lr2b, Lr2c, Lr3a, Lr9, Lr10, Lr11, Lr13, Lr15, Lr17, Lr19, Lr21, Lr23, Lr24, Lr26 and Lr28. Samples of leaf rust were obtained from different parts of the Czech Republic. A total of 163 wheat leaf rust isolates were analysed. No virulence for the resistance gene Lr9 was found. Virulence for Lr19 was found only in one isolate in 2015. A lower frequency of virulence to Lr24, Lr2a, 2b, 2c and Lr28 was also observed. The presence of Lr10, Lr24, Lr26, Lr28 and Lr37 in registered cultivars was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) molecular markers.Keywords: leaf rust pathotypes; Lr genes; resistance; wheat cultivarsThe main objective of virulence surveys in the wheat leaf rust population is to present data useful for resistance breeding. In former Czechoslovakia physiologic races (pathotypes) of Puccinia triticina Eriks. on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) had been studied in virulence surveys since the sixties of the last century. Results of the race surveys till 2011 were summarized in two papers (Hanzalová & Bartoš 2014a, b). The present contribution contains results of virulence surveys carried out in 2012-2015 and data on leaf rust resistance genes of recently registered winter wheat cultivars.Collections of wheat leaf rust on leaves were obtained from different cultivars from the variety trials located across the country and organized by the Central Institute for Supervising and Testing in Agriculture. Rust was inoculated on the susceptible cultivar Michigan Amber. When flecks appeared on inoculated leaves, a leaf segment with one developing uredinium of each rust sample was transferred to Petri dish with water and kept in the greenhouse until urediospores developed. Single pustule isolates were increased on cv. Michigan Amber for tests on differentials. Inoculation of seedlings was carried out by rubbing the leaves of seedlings with fingers moistened in a water suspension of urediospores. Inoculated plants were kept in the greenhouse closed glass cylinders to provide high air humidity for 24 h. Infection types were evaluated according to Stakman et al. (1962) 10-14 days after inoculation when plants were kept in a greenhouse at 18-22°C. Avirulence was characterized by infection types 0; 1 and 2, virulence by infection types 2-3 and 3. Frequency of virulence to the resistance genes was expressed in percentages. Thatcher near isogenic lines (NILs) with single Lr genes approved as leaf rust differentials by participants in the international COST 817 Action (Mesterházy et al. 2000) and in addition NIL Lr10 and Lr13 were used in the tests.In the molecular analysis DNA for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays was extracted from the second wheat leaves by a commercial kit (Qiagen,