Chinese wheat landrace Dahongtou was resistant to 35 of 38 tested Chinese isolates of Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici at the seedling stage. Genetic analysis of the F2 populations and their derived F2:3 families of crosses of Dahongtou with the susceptible varieties Mingxian 169 and Huixianhong indicated that the resistance of Dahongtou to B. graminis f. sp. tritici isolate E09 was conferred by a single recessive gene, tentatively designated as pmDHT. The gene was mapped to chromosome arm 7BL and flanked by markers Xwmc526/XBE443877 and Xgwm611/Xwmc511 at genetic distances of 0.8 and 0.3 cM, respectively. The chromosomal position of pmDHT was similar to the multi-allelic Pm5 locus on 7BL. Allelism tests with crosses of Dahongtou with Fuzhuang 30 (Pm5e) and Xiaobaidong (mlxbd) indicated that pmDHT was allelic to both Pm5e and mlxbd. However, pmDHT showed a different pattern of resistance to the 38 B. graminis f. sp. tritici isolates compared with wheat lines with Pm5a, Pm5b, Pm5e, mlxbd, and PmHYM and also differed from PmSGA. Thus, pmDHT was identified most likely as a new allele or at least a closely linked gene of the Pm5 locus. This gene can be transferred into susceptible wheat cultivars/lines and pyramided with other resistance genes through marker-assisted selection to improve powdery mildew resistance.
Keywords: Chinese wheat landrace; Pm5 locus; mapping; pmDHT; powdery mildew.