First Report of Puccinia triticina (Leaf Rust) Race FBPT on Wheat in South Africa

Abstract

Eleven isolates of Puccinia triticina Erikss. collected from bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in the Western Cape during the 2010 annual rust survey were pathotyped to a race not previously recorded in South Africa. Replicated race analysis on seedlings of 16 Thatcher (Tc) near-isogenic differential lines at two rust laboratories confirmed avirulence (infection types [ITs] 0; to 2+) for lines with Lr1, Lr2a, Lr9, Lr11, Lr16, Lr24, and Lr26 and virulence (ITs 3 to 4) for lines with Lr2c, Lr3, Lr3ka, Lr10, Lr14a, Lr17, Lr18, Lr30, and LrB. Thatcher lines with LrB, Lr10, Lr14a, and Lr18 were added as the fourth set to the 12 original differential lines (1,2). This profile codes to race FBPT according to the North American system, and, based on these differentials, resembles a P. triticina isolate from Gwebi, Zimbabwe, in 2012 (Z. A. Pretorius, unpublished data). When additional single gene lines were tested with FBPT (race 3SA147 according to the ARC-Small Grain Institute rust notation procedure), lines with Lr2b, Lr15, Lr19, Lr20, Lr21, Lr25, Lr27+31, Lr28, Lr29, Lr32, Lr36, Lr38, Lr45, Lr47, Lr50, Lr51, and Lr52 were effective, whereas lines with Lr3bg, Lr23, Lr28, and Lr33 were ineffective. In adult plant tests in a greenhouse, Thatcher lines containing Lr12 (IT ;1c), Lr13 (IT ;1c), Lr22a (IT 1), Lr35 (IT ;1+), and Lr37 (IT ;1) were resistant, whereas Thatcher (Lr22b) was susceptible. Of 146 South African cultivars and lines infected as seedlings with 3SA147 (FBPT), 83% were resistant (IT ≤ 2) and 5% showed within-line variation. Entries showing compatible ITs with 3SA147 (FBPT) were also susceptible to either or both of 3SA133 (PDRS) and 3SA146 (MCDS). In addition, the new race was genotyped using 16 simple sequence repeat (SSR) primer-combinations (3). Three single pustule isolates of 3SA147 (FBPT) were identical and showed 82% and 76% similarity with the recently described races 3SA146 (MCDS) and 3SA145 (CCPS), respectively (4). Minimum spanning network analysis confirmed this close genetic relationship among the three races. However, since their virulence phenotypes differ, it is proposed that 3SA147 (FBPT) is not a stepwise mutation from either 3SA145 (CCPS) or 3SA146 (MCDS), but rather a foreign introduction into South Africa. As most current breeding lines and wheat cultivars are resistant, it is unlikely that race FBPT will threaten wheat production in South Africa, but its detection underlines the fact that new P. triticina variants have been occurring at regular intervals in the region.