Genetics and mapping of seedling resistance to Ug99 stem rust in Canadian wheat cultivars ‘Peace’ and ‘AC Cadillac’

Abstract

Stem rust (caused by Puccinia graminis Pers.:Pers. f. sp. tritici Eriks. & E. Henn.) has re-emerged as a threat to wheat production with the evolution of new pathogen races, namely TTKSK (Ug99) and its variants, in Africa. Deployment of resistant wheat cultivars has provided long-term control of stem rust. Identification of new resistance genes will contribute to future cultivars with broad resistance to stem rust. The related Canadian cultivars Peace and AC Cadillac show resistance to Ug99 at the seedling stage and in the field. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the inheritance and genetically map resistance to Ug99 in these two cultivars. Two populations were produced, an F(2:3) population from LMPG/AC Cadillac and a doubled haploid (DH) population from RL6071/Peace. Both populations showed segregation at the seedling stage for a single stem rust resistance (Sr) gene, temporarily named SrCad. SrCad was mapped to chromosome 6DS in both populations with microsatellite markers and a marker (FSD_RSA) that is tightly linked to the common bunt resistance gene Bt10. FSD_RSA was the closest marker to SrCad (≈ 1.6 cM). Evaluation of the RL6071/Peace DH population and a second DH population, AC Karma/87E03-S2B1, in Kenya showed that the combination of SrCad and leaf rust resistance gene Lr34 provided a high level of resistance to Ug99-type races in the field, whereas in the absence of Lr34 SrCad conferred moderate resistance. A survey confirmed that SrCad is the basis for all of the seedling resistance to Ug99 in Canadian wheat cultivars. While further study is needed to determine the relationship between SrCad and other Sr genes on chromosome 6DS, SrCad represents a valuable genetic resource for producing stem rust resistant wheat cultivars.