stem rust

Resistance is an effective and economic method of controlling wheat stem rust provided the resistance gene(s) remains effective. We studied the stem rust responses of 372 synthetic hexaploid wheats (SHW) originally from CIMMYT under natural field infection conditions at Kelardasht, a stem rust hotspot. Stem rust severities were recorded using the modified Cobb scale prior to harvest ripeness. Seventy six and 17% of the genotypes (93% in total) were scored susceptible or moderately susceptible, whereas only 5 and 2% (7% in total) were moderately resistant or resistant, respectively. Based on our results, 26% of the genotypes were considered to have resistance, displaying field responses of 40MS to 20MSS. Those SHWs resistant to local Pgt races at Kelardasht could be used as sources of resistance in Iranian wheat breeding programs. Race analysis of Pgt isolates from the trials and seedling response tests on the entire SHW set are in progress.

Rye stem rust (caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. secalis, Pgs) causes considerable yield losses in rye crops grown in continental climates. In Germany, stem rust resistance in rye has attracted little attention until now. In order to implement resistance breeding, it is of utmost importance to (1) analyze Pgs populations in terms of diversity and pathotype distribution, and (2) identify resistance sources in winter rye populations. Within a three-year research project, we analyzed 389 single-pustule-isolates, collected mainly from German rye-growing areas, on 15 rye inbred differentials with different avirulence/virulence patterns; among them, 226 pathotypes were identified and only 56 occurred more than once. The majority of isolates infected 5-6 differentials. This high diversity was confirmed by a Simpson index of 0.99, a high Shannon index (5.27) and an evenness index of 0.97. In parallel, we investigated stem-rust resistance among and within 122 genetically heterogeneous rye populations originating from 19 countries across 3 to 15 environments (location-year combinations) in two replicates. While 7 German commercial rye populations were highly susceptible, 11 non-adapted populations, mainly from Russia, Austria and the USA, were highly resistant, harboring 32-70% resistant stems on plots averaged across 8 to 10 environments. Selections for low disease severity at the adult-plant stage in the field also displayed resistance in leaf-segment tests (r=0.86, P<0.01). In conclusion, rye stem rust pathogen populations are highly diverse and the majority of resistances in rye populations are race-specific. The new Pgs isolate set firstly developed within the project covers the current spectrum of virulences and can be used to assess the effectiveness of stem rust resistance genes or sources. New pathotypes can be detected using this differential set and farmers and industry can be alerted to circumvent economic damage. In the long term, resistances from non-adapted populations should be introgressed into commercial rye cultivars.

In the northeastern United States, outside the boundaries of the 20th century federal barberry eradication zone, both common barberry (Berberis vulgaris) and Japanese barberry (B. thunbergii) are found in great abundance, to the extent that both are considered invasive species. Much less common and relatively less studied is their interspecific hybrid, B. ×ottawensis, which has been produced in the ornamental horticultural industry but which also occurs naturally.  Since B. vulgaris is a competent host of Puccinia graminis and B. thunbergii is not, B. ×ottawensis presents a unique system for characterizing the genetic mechanism(s) underlying what appears to be non-host resistance to P. graminis in B. thunbergii. In this study, a natural population of about 1,000 individuals (mixed B. vulgaris, B. thunbergii, and B. ×ottawensis) in Sheffield, MA, was investigated. While wide morphological variation was observed among and within the populations of all three species at the site, the most pronounced variation was observed among B. ×ottawensis individuals. A subset of the population was selected for genotyping by sequencing (GBS) and evaluated for reaction to P. graminis via controlled inoculations. The response was found to segregate clearly among B. ×ottawensis individuals; and GBS was shown to be a viable means of generating molecular markers in these species, despite the lack of a reference genome. These results suggest that P. graminis resistance in B. thunbergii can be genetically mapped, and mapping populations are currently under development to accomplish this goal. The genomic resources developed in this work may facilitate both barberry surveillance efforts and ornamental barberry testing programs. Furthermore, knowledge of the genetics of response to P. graminis in the alternate host has the potential to inform efforts in breeding for stem rust resistance in wheat.

Our research objective is to identify new resistance genes in cultivated and wild tetraploid wheats that are effective against race TTKSK and other Pgt races, and could be utilized in durum breeding. We characterized 7,000 durum and 360 emmer accessions for field resistance at Debre Zeit, Ethiopia, and Saint Paul, Minnesota. Accessions with resistant to moderately resistant responses in multiple field evaluations were characterized at the seedling stage for resistance to races TTKSK, TRTTF, TTTTF, JRCQC, TKTTF, and an additional six representative U.S. races. We identified 208 durum and 28 emmer accessions resistant to moderately resistant in all field and seedling evaluations. A search for resistance through seedling evaluations was also conducted on wild emmer (840 accessions) and four cultivated tetraploids (Persian, Polish, Oriental, and Pollard wheats, 560 accessions). About 20% of the accessions were resistant to race TTKSK. Thirty-six resistant accessions of cultivated and wild tetraploids were selected to investigate the genetics of TTKSK and TRTTF resistance. Results from evaluating F2 and F2:3 generations from biparental crosses revealed that resistance to race TTKSK in various subspecies of T. turgidum was conferred mostly by one or two genes with dominant and recessive actions. Additional resistance genes were identified when populations were evaluated against race TRTTF. A bulk segregant analysis approach is being used to map the resistance genes in selected resistant parents using the 90K SNP platform.