A five-transgene cassette confers broad-spectrum resistance to a fungal rust pathogen in wheat

Authors: LUO, MING - XINJIANG UNIVERSITY; XIE, LIQIONG - SCHOOL OF LIFE SCIENCES AND BIOENGINEERING; CHAKRABORTY, SOMA - COMMONWEALTH SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH ORGANISATION (CSIRO); WANG, AIHUA - COMMONWEALTH SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH ORGANISATION (CSIRO); MATNY, OADI - UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA; JUGOVICH, MICHELLE - UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA; KOLMER, JAMES; RICHARDSON, TERESE - COMMONWEALTH SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH ORGANISATION (CSIRO); BHATT, DHARA - COMMONWEALTH SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH ORGANISATION (CSIRO); HOQUE, MOHAMMAD - COMMONWEALTH SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH ORGANISATION (CSIRO); PATPOUIR, MEHRAN - AARHUS UNIVERSITY; SORENSON, CHRIS - AARHUS UNIVERSITY; ORTIZ, DIANA - NATIONAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND ENVIRONMENT; DODDS, PETER - COMMONWEALTH SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH ORGANISATION (CSIRO); STEUERNAGEL, BURKHARD - JOHN INNES CENTER; WULFF, BRANDE - JOHN INNES CENTER; UPADHYAYA, NARAYANA - COMMONWEALTH SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH ORGANISATION (CSIRO); MAGO, ROHIT - COMMONWEALTH SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH ORGANISATION (CSIRO); PERIYANNAN, SAM - COMMONWEALTH SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH ORGANISATION (CSIRO); LAGUDAH, EVANS - COMMONWEALTH SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH ORGANISATION (CSIRO); FREEDMAN, ROGER - COMMONWEALTH SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH ORGANISATION (CSIRO); REUBER, T - COMMONWEALTH SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH ORGANISATION (CSIRO); STEFFENSON, BRIAN - UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA; AYLIFFE, MICHAEL - COMMONWEALTH SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH ORGANISATION (CSIRO)

Submitted to: Nature Biotechnology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/19/2020
Publication Date: 1/4/2021
Citation: Luo, M., Xie, L., Chakraborty, S., Wang, A., Matny, O., Jugovich, M., Kolmer, J.A., Richardson, T., Bhatt, D., Hoque, M.S., Patpouir, M., Sorenson, C., Ortiz, D., Dodds, P., Steuernagel, B., Wulff, B.B., Upadhyaya, N.M., Mago, R., Periyannan, S., Lagudah, E., Freedman, R., Reuber, T.L., Steffenson, B.J., Ayliffe, M. 2021. A five-transgene cassette confers broad-spectrum resistance to a fungal rust pathogen in wheat. Nature Biotechnology. 39:561-566. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-020-00770-x.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-020-00770-x

Interpretive Summary: Wheat is attacked by the rust fungus called Puccinia graminis, which causes the disease wheat stem rust. There are many different forms or races of the wheat stem rust fungus that vary in their ability to attack different resistance genes in wheat. Wheat cultivars that have more than one gene for resistance have longer lasting stem rust resistance since it takes longer for stem rust races to gain virulence to two or more resistance genes. In this research, a wheat cultivar with five stem rust resistance genes in a tightly linked region on a single chromosome was developed using advanced biotechnologies. The wheat cultivar was tested for resistance to stem rust in field plot and greenhouse experiments and had very good stem rust resistance due to at least four of the five genes on the single chromosomal region. Since the genes are together in a single region on the chromosome it will be much simpler to keep all of the genes together in breeding programs to improve stem rust resistance.

Technical Abstract: Wheat stem rust disease caused by the fungal pathogen Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt) is a major threat to cereal production. Genetic resistance offers the most economic and sustainable protection but often lacks durability due to pathogen virulence evolution. Pgt continues to overcome resistant wheat cultivars with three new highly virulent isolates emerging in the last 20 years and the disease re-appearing in Europe and the UK1. Pyramiding resistance genes increases their durability as multiple, independent pathogen mutations are needed for virulence; however, combining multiple unlinked resistance genes by conventional breeding is laborious. Here we generate polygenic Pgt resistance by introducing a transgene cassette of five resistance genes into bread wheat as a single locus and show function of at least 4/5 genes. The simple monogenic inheritance of this locus greatly simplifies deploying these resistance genes in breeding programs and the polygenic nature of resistance will increase its durability.