Association mapping of stem rust race TTKSK resistance in US barley breeding germplasm

H Zhou,B J Steffenson,Peter Njau,Sylvester Ndeda,Ruth Wanyera,Gary Muehlbauer

doi:10.1007/s00122-014-2297-8

Abstract

Key message Loci conferring resistance to the highly virulent African stem rust race TTKSK were identified in advanced barley breeding germplasm and positioned to chromosomes 5H and 7H using an association mapping approach. African races of the stem rust pathogen (Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici) are a serious threat to barley production worldwide because of their wide virulence. To discover and characterize resistance to African stem rust race TTKSK in US barley breeding germplasm, over 3,000 lines/cultivars were assessed for resistance at the seedling stage in the greenhouse and also the adult plant stage in the field in Kenya. Only 12 (0.3 %) and 64 (2.1 %) lines exhibited a resistance level comparable to the resistant control at the seedling and adult plant stage, respectively. To map quantitative trait loci (QTL) for resistance to race TTKSK, an association mapping approach was conducted, utilizing 3,072 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. At the seedling stage, two neighboring SNP markers (0.8 cM apart) on chromosome 7H (11_21491 and 12_30528) were found significantly associated with resistance. The most significant one found was 12_30528; thus, the resistance QTL was named Rpg-qtl-7H-12_30528. At the adult plant stage, two SNP markers on chromosome 5H (11_11355 and 12_31427) were found significantly associated with resistance. This resistance QTL was named Rpg-qtl-5H-11_11355 for the most significant marker identified. Adult plant resistance is of paramount importance for stem rust. The marker associated with Rpg-qtl-5H-11_11355 for adult plant resistance explained only a small portion of the phenotypic variation (0.02); however, this QTL reduced disease severity up to 55.0 % under low disease pressure and up to 21.1 % under heavy disease pressure. SNP marker 11_11355 will be valuable for marker-assisted selection of adult plant stem rust resistance in barley breeding.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00122-014-2297-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Highlights

Stem rust is one of the most serious diseases of small grain cereals because it is capable of completely destroying crops across a large area in a short period of time
Line Q21861 was included as the resistant control because it reliably exhibits low infection types (ITs) to race TTKSK under moderate temperatures
Moderate to high infection levels were observed on all Barley Coordinated Agricultural Project (BCAP) germplasm and controls in each experiment, allowing for the reliable scoring of ITs

Summary

Introduction

Stem rust is one of the most serious diseases of small grain cereals because it is capable of completely destroying crops across a large area in a short period of time. Wheat has historically been most affected by stem rust, barley can suffer damage due to this disease. Barley is host to two different stem rust pathogens: Puccinia graminis Pers.:Pers. Henn., the wheat stem rust pathogen, and P. graminis Pers.:Pers. Henn., the rye stem rust pathogen, with the former being most important (Steffenson 1992). Since the mid-1940s, losses due to stem rust have been minimal in barley cultivars grown in North America due to the deployment of the resistance gene Rpg (Steffenson 1992)

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