Genetics

Resistance offers the best means of control of the cereal rusts, but must be strategically deployed so as to avoid exposure of single major genes, which have faltered so many times in the past. The pyramiding of multiple effective resistance genes is a strategy that has proven effective in a number of wheat production areas around the world. However, the process of incorporating multiple resistance genes into a single cultivar using standard breeding techniques is time consuming, laborious, and hampered by the problem of linkage drag. If a suite of effective resistance genes could be efficiently cloned and transferred into wheat as a cassette, it would accelerate the development of durably resistant varieties without the problem of linkage drag. Toward this end, we have developed a resistance gene cloning technology based on resistance gene enrichment sequencing (RenSeq) of EMS-derived mutant R gene alleles. As a proof of concept test, we successfully ‘re’-cloned the already characterized gene Sr33 and are now targeting the cloning of eight other effective resistance genes. For the identification of susceptible mutants for the cloning of Sr32 from Aegilops speltoides, we screened 1,109 M₂ families with race TPMKC — as a surrogate for race TTKSK. Five susceptible M₂ mutants were confirmed by progeny testing. These mutants were also susceptible to race TTKSK. For the population involving Sr1644 from Ae. sharonensis, 1,649 M₂ families were screened, yielding 33 M₂ families that appeared to segregate for susceptibility. Thirteen of 33 families were confirmed as bona fide susceptible mutants by progeny tests in the M₃ generation. Identification of susceptible EMS mutants of Sr32 and Sr1644 suggests that the underlying resistance in these lines is conferred by single genes. We will report on progress to clone and characterize these genes using R gene exome capture and sequencing technology (RenSeq).

The shortage of stem rust resistance genes effective against the Ug99 group prompted recent efforts to increase the number of resistance genes available to breeders. We are fortunate that many new and/or cytogenetically improved rust resistance genes are now being shared with the global wheat breeding community by their developers. If we are poor stewards of these resources, the new resistance genes will eventually be defeated, and we will waste the efforts and investments that have been made. However, if we are good stewards, we should have enough resistance to achieve sustainable, durable resistance. Stewardship can be defined as the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care. What should we do to safeguard the new resistance genes? Diversification of resistance is often suggested as a way to reduce the risk of large scale epidemics. Although diversification is generally a good idea, it cannot be at the expense of leaving new genes exposed and vulnerable. A durable combination (pyramid) must be designed so that the component genes protect each other. They should reduce the probability of simultaneous pathogen mutations to virulence and they should avoid stepwise erosion of the pyramid by preventing significant reproduction of any new race that is virulent on component genes. We need pyramids to be immune or nearly immune not only to current races, but to anticipated mutants. This objective should be achievable with three or more major genes or a combination of major and minor genes. Successful gene stewardship will depend on several things. On the technical side, we will need very good markers for each gene. Each breeding program will require strong genotyping support to assemble and then validate pyramids. Most importantly, successful stewardship will require that we organize our user community to cooperate more closely. We will need to decide which genes require special stewardship and which do not. Every user of the stewardship pool resource will need to participate in earnest. It only takes one cultivar with an unprotected gene to give the pathogen a stepping stone to greater virulence. As they say, a chain is only as strong as the weakest link

Full nonhost resistance can be defined as immunity, displayed by an entire plant species against all genotypes of a plant pathogen. The genetic basis of (non)host-status of plants is hard to study, since identification of the responsible genes would require interspecific crosses that suffer from sterility and abnormal segregation. There are some plant/potential pathogen combinations where only 10% or less of the accessions are at most moderately susceptible. These may be regarded as marginal host or near-nonhost, and can provide insights into the genes that determine whether a plant species is a host or a nonhost to a would-be pathogen. Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) is a near-nonhost to several rust pathogens (Puccinia) of cereals and grasses. By crossing and selection we developed an experimental line, SusPtrit, with high susceptibility to at least nine different heterologous rust taxa such as the wheat and Agropyron leaf rusts (caused by P. triticina and P. persistens, respectively). On the basis of SusPtrit and several regular, fully resistant barley accessions, we developed mapping populations. We established that the near-nonhost resistance to heterologous rusts inherits polygenically (QTLs). The QTLs have different and overlapping specificities. In addition, an occasional R-gene is involved. In each population, different sets of loci were implicated in resistance. Very few resistance genes were common between the populations, suggesting a high redundancy in barley for resistance factors. Selected QTLs have been introduced into near-isogenic lines to be fine-mapped. Our results show that the barley- Puccinia system is ideal to investigate the genetics of host-status to specialized plant pathogens.