QTL mapping for seedling and adult plant resistance to stripe and leaf rust in two winter wheat populations

Front Genet. 2023 Nov 23:14:1265859. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2023.1265859. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

The two recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations developed by crossing Almaly × Avocet S (206 RILs) and Almaly × Anza (162 RILs) were used to detect the novel genomic regions associated with adult plant resistance (APR) and seedling or all-stage resistance (ASR) to yellow rust (YR) and leaf rust (LR). The quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were detected through multi-year phenotypic evaluations (2018-2020) and using high-throughput DArTseq genotyping technology. RILs exhibited significant genetic variation with p < 0.001, and the coefficient of variation ranged from 9.79% to 47.99% for both LR and YR in all Environments and stages of evaluations. The heritability is quite high and ranged between 0.47 and 0.98. We identified nine stable QTLs for YR APR on chromosomes 1B, 2A, 2B, 3D, and 4D and four stable QTLs for LR APR on chromosomes 2B, 3B, 4A, and 5A. Furthermore, in silico analysis revealed that the key putative candidate genes such as cytochrome P450, protein kinase-like domain superfamily, zinc-binding ribosomal protein, SANT/Myb domain, WRKY transcription factor, nucleotide sugar transporter, and NAC domain superfamily were in the QTL regions and probably involved in the regulation of host response toward pathogen infection. The stable QTLs identified in this study are useful for developing rust-resistant varieties through marker-assisted selection (MAS).

Keywords: QTL; adult plant resistance; all-stage resistance; leaf rust; wheat; yellow rust.

Associated data

  • Dryad/10.5061/dryad.3bk3j9krn

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that their financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research has been funded by the Science Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan (grant no. AP09258991 and grant no. BR18574099, the task 02).