Allelism of resistance genes YrH52, YrG303 and Yr15 originating from different wild emmer sources

Wild emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccoides, (DIC)) is an important source of resistance to stripe rust due to presence of Puccinia striiformis in its natural habitats with high humidity and relatively low temperatures that are favorable for stripe rust development. Previously, we showed that DIC accessions from northern Israel were highly resistant to stripe rust. According to the rust responses of three DIC accessions (G25, H52, G303) and mapping of the resistance to relatively close, but different, genetic positions on chromosome 1BS, three different resistance genes were assumed to be present. However, the development of additional critical recombinants and new higher resolution genetic maps for these three genes in subsequent work led us to place YrH52 and YrG303 in the same genetic interval as Yr15, suggesting that the three putative genes are allelic or identical. The recent cloning of Yr15 allowed us to test this hypothesis using an EMS mutagenesis approach. We sequenced the Yr15 locus in five yrH52 and three yrG303 susceptible mutants and identified missense point mutations associated with the susceptible phenotype in each one. Thus, YrH52 and YrG303 may not be new genes. Further work is under way to determine if these genes are allelic or identical.