Rapid identification of a major effect QTL conferring adult plant resistance to stripe rust in wheat cultivar Yaco“S”

Abstract

Stripe rust is a devastating disease in common wheat (Triticum aestivum) worldwide. Growing cultivars with adult-plant resistance (APR) is an environmental friendly approach that provides long-term protection to wheat from this disease. Wheat cultivar Yaco“S” showed a high level of APR to stripe rust in the field from 2008 to 2014. The objective of this study was to detect the major quantitative trait loci (QTL) for APR to stripe rust in Yaco“S”. One hundred and eighty-four F2:3 lines were developed from a cross between Yaco“S” and susceptible cultivar Mingxian169. Illumina 90K and 660K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) chips were implemented to bulked pools and their parents to identify SNPs associated with the major QTL. A high-density linkage map was constructed using simple sequence repeat (SSR) and SNP markers. Inclusive composite interval mapping detected a major effect QTL Qyryac.nwafu-2BS conferring stable resistance to stripe rust in all tested environments. Qyryac.nwafu-2BS were mapped to a 1.3 cm interval and explained 17.3–51.9% of the phenotypic variation. Compared with stripe rust resistance genes previously mapped to chromosome 2B, Qyryac.nwafu-2BS is likely a new APR gene to stripe rust. Combining SNP iSelect assay and kompetitive allele specific PCR technology, we found that the APR gene could be rapidly and accurately mapped and it is useful for improving stripe rust resistance in wheat breeding.