Discovery of powdery mildew resistance gene candidates from Aegilops biuncialis chromosome 2Mb based on transcriptome sequencing

Huanhuan Li; Zhenjie Dong; Chao Ma; Xiubin Tian; Zhiguo Xiang; Qing Xia; Pengtao Ma; Wenxuan Liu

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0220089

Discovery of powdery mildew resistance gene candidates from Aegilops biuncialis chromosome 2Mb based on transcriptome sequencing

PLoS One. 2019 Nov 11;14(11):e0220089. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0220089. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Huanhuan Li¹, Zhenjie Dong¹, Chao Ma¹, Xiubin Tian¹, Zhiguo Xiang², Qing Xia¹, Pengtao Ma³, Wenxuan Liu¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Life Sciences, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China.
² Wheat Research Center, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China.
³ College of Life Sciences, Yantai University, Yantai, Shandong Province, China.

Abstract

Powdery mildew is one of the most widespread diseases of wheat. The development and deployment of resistant varieties are one of the most economical and effective methods to manage this disease. Our previous study showed that the gene(s) at 2Mb in Chinese Spring (CS)-Aegilops biuncialis 2Mb disomic addition line TA7733 conferred a high level of resistance to powdery mildew of wheat. In this study, resistance spectrum of TA7733 was assayed by using 15 Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici (Bgt) isolates prevalent in different regions of China. The result indicated that TA7733 was highly resistant to all tested Bgt isolates and the gene(s) on chromosome 2Mb conferred broad-spectrum resistance to powdery mildew. In order to characterize mechanism of powdery mildew resistance by identifying candidates R-genes derived from Ae. biuncialis chromosome 2Mb and develop 2Mb-specific molecular markers, we performed RNA-seq analysis on TA7733 and CS. In total we identified 7,278 unigenes that showed specific expression in TA7733 pre and post Bgt-infection when compared to CS. Of these 7,278 unigenes, 295 were annotated as putative resistance (R) genes. Comparatively analysis of R-gene sequences from TA7733 and CS and integration CS Ref Seq v1.0 were used to develop R-gene specific primers. Of 295 R-genes we identified 53 R-genes were specific to 2Mb and could be involved in powdery mildew resistance. Functional annotation of majority of the 53 R-genes encoded nucleotide binding leucine rich repeat (NLR) protein. The broad-spectrum resistance to powdery mildew in TA7733 and availability of 2Mb-derived putative candidate R-gene specific molecular markers identified in this study will lay foundations for transferring powdery mildew resistance from 2Mb to common wheat by inducing CS-Ae. biuncialis homoeologous recombination. Our study also provides useful candidates for further isolation and cloning of powdery mildew resistance gene(s) from Ae. biuncialis chromosome 2Mb.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aegilops / genetics*
Ascomycota*
Chromosomes, Plant*
Disease Resistance / genetics*
Plant Diseases / genetics*
Plant Proteins / genetics
Sequence Analysis, RNA
Transcriptome

Substances

Plant Proteins

Grants and funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31801361 to HL and Grant No. 31571658 to WL), the Scientific and Technological Research Project of Henan Province of China (Grant No. 192102110011 to HL), the Henan Province Special Major Science and Technology Project (Grant No. 161100110400 to WL) and the State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science at Henan Agricultural University, China (Grant No. 39990022 to WL). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.