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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Western Regional Research Center » Crop Improvement and Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #365012
Research Project: New Genetic Resources for Breeding Better Wheat and Bioenergy Crops

Location: Crop Improvement and Genetics Research

Title: A rare single nucleotide variant in Pm5e confers powdery mildew resistance in common wheat

Author
item XIE, J. - Chinese Academy Of Sciences
item GUO, G. - Chinese Academy Of Sciences
item WANG, Y. - Chinese Academy Of Sciences
item HU, T. - Henan Institute Of Science And Technology
item WANG, L. - China Agricultural University
item LI, J. - Chinese Academy Of Sciences
item QIU, D - Chinese Academy Of Sciences
item LI, Y. - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences
item WU, Q. - Chinese Academy Of Sciences
item LU, P. - Chinese Academy Of Sciences
item CHEN, Y. - Chinese Academy Of Sciences
item DONG, L. - Chinese Academy Of Sciences
item LI, M. - Chinese Academy Of Sciences
item ZHANG, H. - Chinese Academy Of Sciences
item ZHANG, P. - Chinese Academy Of Sciences
item ZHU, K. - Chinese Academy Of Sciences
item LI, B. - Chinese Academy Of Sciences
item DEAL, K. - University Of California, Davis
item HUO, N. - University Of California, Davis
item ZHANG, Y. - China Agricultural University
item LUO, M.-C. - University Of California, Davis
item LIU, S. - Kansas State University
item Gu, Yong
item LI, H. - Chinese Academy Of Agricultural Sciences
item LIU, Z. - Chinese Academy Of Sciences

Submitted to: New Phytologist
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/2/2020
Publication Date: 6/22/2020
Citation: Xie, J., Guo, G., Wang, Y., Hu, T., Wang, L., Li, J., Qiu, D., Li, Y., Wu, Q., Lu, P., Chen, Y., Dong, L., Li, M., Zhang, H., Zhang, P., Zhu, K., Li, B., Deal, K., Huo, N., Zhang, Y., Luo, M., Liu, S., Gu, Y.Q., Li, H., Liu, Z. 2020. A rare single nucleotide variant in Pm5e confers powdery mildew resistance in common wheat. New Phytologist. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.16762.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.16762

Interpretive Summary: Powdery mildew is one of the most widely epidemic disease in wheat, causing a severe reduction in grain yield and seed quality. The development of disease-resistance cultivar is an important breeding objective in area where the disease is prevalent. Due to the rapid evolution of pathogens, resistance genes often lose their functions soon after the emergence of new virulent isolates. Therefore, the most sustainable way to control this disease is through planting cultivars with durable and broad-spectrum disease-resistant genes. In this work, we reported the rapid cloning of a durable and broad-spectrum powdery mildew resistance gene pm5e in hexaploid wheat by a two-step bulk segregant RNA sequence (BSR-Seq) approach. The resistance function of pm5 was confirmed by transformation rescue and multiple independent mutagenesis. Our results demonstrate the power of BSR-Seq technology in cloning genes from hexaploid wheat and provide the target genomic site for directly improving wheat disease resistance through genome editing.

Technical Abstract: Common wheat is one of the most valuable crops. Powdery mildew of wheat poses severe threats to wheat production. The most sustainable way to control this disease is through planting cultivars with durable and broad-spectrum disease-resistant genes. Cloning of wheat genes is difficult due to its huge genome. Here, we report the rapid cloning of a durable and broad-spectrum powdery mildew resistance gene Pm5e in hexaploid wheat by a two-step bulked segregant RNA sequencing (BSR-Seq) approach. The first BSR-Seq used phenotypically-contrasting bulks of a small population and identified a rough linked interval of Pm5e. The second BSR-Seq utilized genetic recombinant bulks of a large population in the linked interval to precisely quantify genomic variations, and rapidly identified the co-segregating region and Pm5e candidate. The cloning of Pm5e was confirmed by transformation rescue and multiple independent mutagenesis. Pm5e encodes a conserved NLR protein and association analyses reveal that a rare G to A nonsynonymous single nucleotide natural mutation distributed specifically in Chinese landraces confers the broad-spectrum resistance of Pm5e to an array of Bgt isolates. Our results demonstrate the power of BSR-Seq technology in cloning genes from hexaploid wheat and provide the target genomic site for directly improving wheat disease resistance through genome editing.