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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Pullman, Washington » WHGQ » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #323705
Title: Novel QTL for stripe rust resistance on chromosomes 4A and 6B in soft white winter wheat cultivars

Author
item KLARQUIST, EMILY - Washington State University
item Chen, Xianming
item CARTER, ARRON - Washington State University

Submitted to: Agronomy
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/28/2015
Publication Date: 1/6/2016
Citation: Klarquist, E.F., Chen, X., Carter, A.H. 2016. Novel QTL for stripe rust resistance on chromosomes 4A and 6B in soft white winter wheat cultivars. Agronomy. 6(1):4.

Interpretive Summary: Stripe rust of wheat is a devastating disease in temperate regions when susceptible varieties are grown and environmental conditions sustain high disease pressures. With frequent and severe outbreaks, disease resistance is a key tool for controlling stripe rust on wheat. The goal of this research was to identify genes or quantitative trait loci (QTL) involved in stripe rust resistance from the important soft white winter wheat varieties ‘Eltan’ and ‘Finch’ that are grown in the US Pacific Northwest. An recombinant inbred line (RIL) mapping population of 151 individuals derived from the Finch × Eltan cross was developed through single seed descent. A linkage map comprising 683 unique single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and 70 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were used to develop 22 linkage groups consisting of 16 of the 21 chromosomes. Stripe rust data on infection type and severity of the RILs were collected at Pullman and Central Ferry, WA, during the summers of 2012, 2013, and 2014. QTL analysis identified two genomic regions on chromosomes 4A (QYr.wak-4A) and 6B (QYr.wak-6B) associated with resistance from Eltan and Finch, respectively. The results of the QTL analysis showed that QYr.wak-4A and QYr.wak-6B reduced infection type and disease severity. Based upon both molecular and phenotypic differences, QYr.wak-4A is a novel QTL for adult-plant resistance to stripe rust. The resistance QTL can be incorporated into wheat germplasm using their associated markers.

Technical Abstract: Stripe rust (caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici) of wheat (Triticum aestivum) is a devastating disease in temperate regions when susceptible varieties are grown and environmental conditions sustain high disease pressures. With frequent and severe outbreaks, disease resistance is a key tool for controlling stripe rust on wheat. The goal of this research was to identify genes or quantitative trait loci (QTL) involved in stripe rust resistance from the important soft white winter wheat varieties ‘Eltan’ and ‘Finch’ that are grown in the US Pacific Northwest. An F2:5 recombinant inbred line (RIL) mapping population of 151 individuals derived from the Finch × Eltan cross was developed through single seed descent. A linkage map comprising 683 unique SNP loci and 70 SSR markers were used to develop 22 linkage groups consisting of 16 of the 21 chromosomes. Stripe rust data on infection type and severity of the RILs were collected at Pullman and Central Ferry, WA, during the summers of 2012, 2013, and 2014. QTL analysis identified two genomic regions on chromosomes 4A (QYr.wak-4A) and 6B (QYr.wak-6B) associated with resistance from Eltan and Finch, respectively. The results of the QTL analysis showed that QYr.wak-4A and QYr.wak-6B reduced infection type and disease severity. Based upon both molecular and phenotypic differences, QYr.wak-4A is a novel QTL for APR to stripe rust. The resistance identified in this study can be incorporated into susceptible wheat germplasm using the significant markers associated with the resistance QTL.