Stem rust Ug99 and related race group are one of the major constraints of wheat production in Kenya. The challenge has been largely due to rapid evolution of races within lineage defeating resistance genes resulting in boom and burst cycles. Understanding of the pathogen population structure in major wheat growing regions in Kenya gives comprehensive information of the predominant races as well as capturing new races which may have potential of causing epidemics. Such information can have significant impact on effective gene stewardship in breeding resistant varieties. Using 11 Pgt Simple Sequence Repeats (SSR) markers we analyzed 104 single uredinial-pustule samples. Allele frequency distribution ranged from 2 to 6 per locus with an average of 3.27 per locus. Observed heterozygosity ranging from 0.297-1.000 (mean HO=?0.809) was significantly different (P< 0.001) than the expected heterozygosity (0.264 to 0.507; mean HE=?0.407) indicating that the population is asexual. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed that the majority of the variation occurred within the samples (98%) rather than between regions (2%). Analysis of 104 samples identified 21 multiple locus genotypes (MLGs). MLG.19 was observed across the three region analyzed that is Central Rift, North Rift and Mount Kenya while MLG.18 was predominant in Mount Kenya. Based on SSR genotypes of reference isolates, Pgt clade IV (race TKTTF) was associated with MLG.16 in Central Rift Kenya while clade I (race TTKSK) had a unique MLG.10. These results indicated two main groups corresponding to Clade I (Ug99 race group) and Clade IV (race TKTTF race group). This minimum spanning network analysis pattern points to the Pgt population being asexual due to mutation. These preliminary results suggest that Pgt population in Kenya is asexual in nature. Further analysis is being conducted to ascertain geographical structure as well as compare the results with the 2011 data.
Primary Author: Okello, University of Eldoret
Keywords:
Our research objective is to identify new resistance genes in durum wheat that are effective against TTKSK and other significant stem rust pathogen races that could be utilized in durum breeding. We characterized 8,000 accessions for stem rust response in the field (Debre Zeit, Ethiopia, and St. Paul, MN). Accessions with resistant to moderately resistant responses in multiple field evaluations were evaluated at the seedling stage for resistance to races TTKSK, TRTTF, TTTTF, JRCQC, TKTTF, and six representative U.S. races. We identified 438 durum accessions resistant to moderately resistant in all field evaluations. Among the field-resistant accessions, 273 were resistant to all races used in seedling evaluations. Accessions susceptible at the seedling stage are being evaluated for the presence of adult plant resistance genes. The highest frequencies of resistant lines include landraces from East and North Africa (Ethiopia and Egypt) and advanced breeding lines and cultivars from North America (Mexico and USA). DNA markers will be performed to identify the presence of durum stem rust resistance genes, including Sr13, Sr8155B1, Sr11, and Sr8a. Nineteen resistant accessions 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 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 in selected lines using the 90K SNP platform.
Primary Author: Olivera, University of Minnesota
Keywords: durum wheat, stem rust
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.
Primary Author: Olivera, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota, USA
Keywords: stem rust, genetics, tetraploid
Stripe rust is the most important disease of wheat in Ecuador. Knowledge of race diversity of the pathogen population is limited. Here we present avirulence/virulence phenotypes found in Pst samples collected from wheat between 2001 and 2014. A total of 30 isolates from the Ecuadorian highlands were tested on 15 near-isogenic wheat lines carrying single resistance genes; 21 races were identified. Lines with Yr2, Yr3, Yr26 and Yr27 were not tested in some years. Virulences to Yr1, Yr6, Yr7 and Yr9 were the most frequent (over 70%) in all years, followed by virulence to Yr17 (67%) and Yr27 (53%). Virulence to Yr8 was not found in 2013 and 2014. Virulence to Yr24/Yr26 was present in each year except 2014, although at a low level. Virulence to Yr10 was low. There were some unconfirmed discrepancies from a perfect association of virulences to Yr24/Yr26 and Yr10. Virulence to YrSP increased up to 2013, but was absent in 2014. There was no virulence to Yr5 and Yr15. Despite limited sampling, a diverse population of Pst seems to be present in Ecuador, with virulence for most resistance genes being present. Based on these analyses resistance to Pst in Ecuador could be achieved with Yr5 and Yr15, together with Yr24Yr26, and perhaps YrSP. One possibility for the high pathogenic variation might be sexual recombination on one or more of the 32 Berberis species reported in Ecuador. This needs to be examined along with more intensive sampling from wheat and analysis of the actual resistance genes present in current cultivars.
Primary Author: Ordonez, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Ecuador
Keywords: Ecuador, stripe rust, virulence
Wheat farmers in Tajikistan measure their success by harvesting higher grain yields. However, crop yields remain very low, and losses from pests and diseases are significant. In this regard, continuous monitoring and surveillance of crops for pests and diseases and identification of resistant varieties are important. During 2011 to 2014 FAO and CIMMYT provided support for crop surveillance to obtain an overview of the most severe diseases, insects, weeds and other constraints affecting cereal crop production. Leading Tajik wheat varieties were screened for resistance to major diseases under controlled conditions in Turkey. The outcomes of the surveys demonstrated that the most devastating leaf diseases of wheat in Tajikistan are yellow rust, leaf rust and occasionally stem rust. Yellow rust was present during spike formation and flowering in most wheat growing areas. Leaf rust developed later in the season and did not significantly affect yield. In 2013 yellow rust reached epidemic levels, especially in central and central-eastern parts of the country. Stem rust was occasionally observed at moderate levels in highland spring wheat areas (above 1,000 masl). Only three varieties screened in Turkey showed resistance to yellow rust; these included Ormon and Alex that originated from CIMMYT materials. However, the majority of currently grown varieties were susceptible. Seventeen of 43 varieties were resistant or displayed only trace levels of leaf rust. Wheat crops are also damaged by powdery mildew, tan spot, Septoria leaf blotch and seed-borne diseases such as common bunt and loose smut.
Primary Author: Otambekova, Research Institute of Biotechnology, Tajik Agrarian University, Tajikistan
Keywords: Tajikistan, surveillance
The International Winter Wheat Improvement Program (Turkey-CIMMYT-ICARDA) conducted a national inventory of wheat landraces in Turkey from 2009-2014. The material in this study were landraces from 10 provinces (Afyon, Aksaray, Burdur, Eskişehir, Karaman, Konya, Kütahya, Nevşehir, Niğde and Uşak) collected in 2009-2010, head-rowed and increased for evaluation in a yield trial in 2012-2013 in Konya province (200 entries, 2 replicates). Drought tolerant cultivars Karahan-99 and Gerek-79 served as checks, each repeated 8 times. The average yıeld of selections from the landraces was 2.95 t/ha compared to 3.7 t/ha for Karahan-99 and 2.8 t/ha for Gerek-79. The mean yıeld of the ten best landrace selections was 3.9 t/ha. In separate disease tests 5% and 11% of selections from the landraces were resistant and moderately resistant to stripe rust, respectively. Four landraces selections (Sahman-Aksaray, Kırmızı Buğday-Uşak, Kobak-Kütahya, Koca Buğday-Burdur) had higher grain yield than Karahan-99 and Gerek-79 and were resistant to stripe rust. There is some likelihood that this resistance is of a durable nature. The selected lines can be used in breeding programs targeting improved dryland performance while improving durability of stripe rust resistance in modern cultivars.
Primary Author: Ozer, Bahri Dağdaş International Agricultural Research Institute, Turkey
Keywords: Turkey, land races, yield, drought, stripe rust
Sterol 14?-Demethylase Cytochrome P450 (CYP51) protein involved in ergosterol biosynthesis pathways is a crucial target for efficient fungicidal compounds. However, the recognition mechanism and dynamic behavior of CYP51 in wheat leaf rust pathogen, Puccinia triticina is still obscure. Previously, a mutation at codon 134 (Y134F) was reported in five European isolates of P. triticina, the structural basis of this mutation remain unclear. To address this problem, CYP51 wild type protein and its variant proteins were successfully modeled using I-TASSER, an ab initio based structure prediction pipeline. To gain valuable insights into structure-function behavior for the binding wild-type and mutant-type proteins, individually generated protein models was subjected to 50ns molecular dynamics (MD) simulations run. Observably, this comparative protein-ligand interaction analysis and binding free energy results revealed that impact of mutation on the thermodynamics and conformational stability of the CYP51 protein is negligible. In present study, we carried out structure-based molecular docking and identified potent novel fungicidal compounds from four different databases and libraries. Consequently through MD simulation and thermodynamic integration, four novel compounds such as CoCoCo54211 (CoCoCo database),ZINC04089470(ZINC database), Allyl pyrocatechol 3,4 diacetate (Natural compound library) and 9-octadecenoic acid (Traditional Chinese Medicine database) has been predicted as potent fungicidal compound against CYP51 with XPGlidedocking score of -11.41, -12.52, -7.40 and -7.55 kcal/mol, respectively. These compounds were found to directly bond to heme group of CYP51, subsequently disturbing the stability and survival of fungus and can be used to control leaf rust in wheat.
Primary Author: Pandey, Panjab University Chandigarh
Keywords:
South Asia has the highest "wheat dependent" low income community in the world. Stem rust and blast are recognized as the most damaging disease of wheat in the region producing 19% of the world's wheat. In order to combat the potential threat the national research centers were geared up to track the real time movement of wheat diseases, generate disease incidence data and create an enabling environment to boost wheat research in the region through streamlined efforts and enhanced SAARC tool box deployed six years ago.
Recent data (2016-17) from the tool box has shown a significant increase in the data records captured in this region compared to previous years. This has been possible because of heightened awareness amongst the scientists and with the continuous capacity building through pre-season and in-season surveillance trainings organized by Sathguru in collaboration with National Wheat Research Institutes at various levels.
The model is helping partner institutes to be self-sufficient for generating, maintaining wheat disease surveillance data in national and global databases and exchanging real time information with stakeholders. The application have been widely deployed and competently being used by 95% of rust surveillance teams in the wheat fields of SAARC region.
The study will focus on how national research center's judicious decision of carrying out diligent surveillance during the season contributed to safeguarding wheat crops in their respective nations through increased vigilance on emergence of new races and targeted introduction of regionally resistant varieties. Further using this data scientist's can aim to strategize their wheat research for identification of resistant varieties and eventually resulting in increased productivity addressing food security of the region.
Primary Author: Paranjape, Sathguru Management Consultants
Keywords:
Following the introduction of wheat stripe rust into Australia in 1979, an uncharacterized resistance (YrA) was identified in both Australian and International spring wheats. Genetic analyses of YrA indicated it was a pair of complementary genes, which were mapped to chromosomes 3DL and 5BL and designated Yr73 and Yr74, respectively. While selection Avocet 'R' carries both genes, selection Avocet 'S' carries Yr73 only. P. triticina pathotype (pt.) 104-1,2,3,(6),(7),11 +Lr37 ("104-VPM"), first detected in Australia in 2002, most likely arose via mutation from pt. 104-1,2,3,(6),(7),11 ("104"), with added virulence for Lr37. Interestingly, while both pathotypes are avirulent on Lr13, 104-VPM shows a much lower Infection Type (IT, ";1") than pt. 104 ("X++3") on several genotypes carrying Lr13 (e.g.Avocet 'R', Avocet 'S'). Other Lr13 genotypes (e.g. cv. Hereward) respond similarly to both pts ("X++3"). Genetic analyses of 4 doubled haploid (DH) populations based on intercrosses between Avocet 'R' and genotypes lacking Lr13 segregated in a 1:7 ratio to pt. 104-VPM (";1" : all other ITs). Two populations fixed for Lr13 (viz. Hereward/ Avocet 'R' and Estica/Avocet 'R') segregated 1:3 to pt. 104-VPM (";1" : all other ITs). This segregation pattern fitted a model where two complementary genes interact with Lr13 to generate the low (IT ";1") IT. Mapping of a Teal/Avocet 'R' DH population using 92 lines and 9,035 DArT-Seq markers identified three QTLs: chromosome 2BS (Lr13); chromosome 3DL (co-located with Yr73); chromosome 1DS. These results suggest that Yr73 acts in a complementary manner with a gene on chromosome 1DS to confer leaf rust resistance (IT "X"), and that these complementary genes are additive with Lr13. It appears that Yr73 is a modifier of two independent genes in wheat, one conferring resistance to stripe rust (Yr74 on chromosome 5BL), and one conferring resistance to leaf rust (LrAv on chromosome 1DS).
Primary Author: Park, The University of Sydney
Keywords: leaf rust
In the present study five bread wheat genotypes (9797, 9801, 9802, Chakwal-50 and Chakwal-86) were tested in a 5?5 full diallel analysis for the estimation of combining ability for yield and its related traits. In randomized complete block design (RCBD) twenty F1s along with their parents were planted in field with three replications in the research area of Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, during 2014-15. Plant height, No. of grains/spike, spike length, No. of productive tillers/plant, flag leaf area, No. of spikelets/spike, 1000 grain weight and grain yield per plant were studied. Except spike length mean squares due to GCA were highly significant for all the traits. All the characters showed highly significant mean squares for SCA and RCA. SCA variance was lower than GCA variance for number of grains/spike and spike length presenting the major role of additive gene action in the inheritance of these traits. While for plant height, flag leaf area, number of spikelets/spike, number of fertile tillers/plant, 1000 grain weight and grain yield/plant the value of GCA variance was lower than the value of SCA variance exhibiting non-additive gene action. Chakwal-50 was the best general combiner for plant height, spike length, number of spikelets/spike, number of grains/spike and grain yield/plant. The best specific combination for most of the traits was 9802?Chakwal-86. In future wheat breeding research programmes, good specific and general combiners can be exploited.
Primary Author: Parveen, Vegetable Research Institute AARI, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
Keywords: yield, Pakistan
