Background: Net blotch caused by Pyrenophra teres f. teres is a major foliar disease of barley. Infection can result in significant yield losses of susceptible cultivars of up to 40%. Of the two forms of net blotch (P. teres f. teres and P. teres f. maculata), P. teres f. teres (net form of net blotch) is the dominant one in Russia. The goal of the current study was to identify genomic regions associated with seedling resistance to several pathotypes of the net form of net blotch in Siberian spring barley genotypes. For this, a genome-wide association study of a Siberian barley collection, genotyped with 50 K Illumina SNP-chip, was carried out.
Results: Seedling resistance of 94 spring barley cultivars and lines to four Pyrenophora teres f. teres isolates (S10.2, K5.1, P3.4.0, and A2.6.0) was investigated. According to the Tekauz rating scale, 25, 21, 14, and 14% of genotypes were highly resistant, and 19, 8, 9, and 16% of genotypes were moderate-resistant to the isolates S10.2, K5.1, P3.4.0, and A2.6.0, respectively. Eleven genotypes (Alag-Erdene, Alan-Bulag, L-259/528, Kedr, Krymchak 55, Omsky golozyorny 2, Omsky 13709, Narymchanin, Pallidum 394, Severny and Viner) were resistant to all studied isolates. Nine additional cultivars (Aley, Barkhatny, Belogorsky, Bezenchuksky 2, Emelya, G-19980, Merit 57, Mestny Primorsky, Slavaynsky) were resistant to 3 of the 4 isolates. The phenotyping and genotyping data were analysed using several statistical models: GLM + Q, GLM + PCA, GLM + PCA + Q, and the MLM + kinship matrix. In total, 40 SNPs in seven genomic regions associated with net blotch resistance were revealed: the region on chromosome 1H between 57.3 and 62.8 cM associated with resistance to 2 isolates (to P3.4.0 at the significant and K5.1 at the suggestive levels), the region on chromosome 6H between 52.6 and 55.4 cM associated with resistance to 3 isolates (to P3.4.0 at the significant and K5.1 and S10.2 at the suggestive levels), three isolate-specific significant regions (P3.4.0-specific regions on chromosome 2H between 71.0 and 74.1 cM and on chromosome 3H between 12.1 and 17.4 cM, and the A2.6.0-specific region on chromosome 3H between 50.9 and 54.8 cM), as well as two additional regions on chromosomes 2H (between 23.2 and 23.8 cM, resistant to S10.2) and 3 (between 135.6 and 137.5 cM resistant to K5.1) with suggestive SNPs, coinciding, however, with known net blotch resistance quantitative trait loci (QTLs) at the same regions.
Conclusions: Seven genomic regions on chromosomes 1H, 2H, 3H, and 6H associated with the resistance to four Pyrenophora teres f. teres isolates were identified in a genome-wide association study of a Siberian spring barley panel. One novel isolate-specific locus on chromosome 3 between 12.1 and 17.4 cM was revealed. Other regions identified in the current study coincided with previously known loci conferring resistance to net blotch. The significant SNPs revealed in the current study can be converted to convenient PCR markers for accelerated breeding of resistant barley cultivars.
Keywords: Association mapping; Barley; GWAS; Hordeum vulgare; Net blotch; Resistance; SNP.