Genetic architecture of rust resistance in a wheat (Triticum turgidum) diversity panel

Valentyna Klymiuk; Teketel Haile; Jennifer Ens; Krystalee Wiebe; Amidou N'Diaye; Andrii Fatiukha; Tamar Krugman; Roi Ben-David; Sariel Hübner; Sylvie Cloutier; Curtis J Pozniak

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1145371

Genetic architecture of rust resistance in a wheat (Triticum turgidum) diversity panel

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Mar 14:14:1145371. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1145371. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Crop Development Centre and Department of Plant Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
² Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
³ Department of Vegetables and Field Crops, Institute of Plant Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization (ARO) - The Volcani Center, Rishon LeZion, Israel.
⁴ Galilee Research Institute (MIGAL), Tel Hai Academic College, Upper Galilee, Israel.
⁵ Ottawa Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
⁶ Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.

Abstract

Introduction: Wheat rust diseases are widespread and affect all wheat growing areas around the globe. Breeding strategies focus on incorporating genetic disease resistance. However, pathogens can quickly evolve and overcome the resistance genes deployed in commercial cultivars, creating a constant need for identifying new sources of resistance.

Methods: We have assembled a diverse tetraploid wheat panel comprised of 447 accessions of three Triticum turgidum subspecies and performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for resistance to wheat stem, stripe, and leaf rusts. The panel was genotyped with the 90K Wheat iSelect single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array and subsequent filtering resulted in a set of 6,410 non-redundant SNP markers with known physical positions.

Results: Population structure and phylogenetic analyses revealed that the diversity panel could be divided into three subpopulations based on phylogenetic/geographic relatedness. Marker-trait associations (MTAs) were detected for two stem rust, two stripe rust and one leaf rust resistance loci. Of them, three MTAs coincide with the known rust resistance genes Sr13, Yr15 and Yr67, while the other two may harbor undescribed resistance genes.

Discussion: The tetraploid wheat diversity panel, developed and characterized herein, captures wide geographic origins, genetic diversity, and evolutionary history since domestication making it a useful community resource for mapping of other agronomically important traits and for conducting evolutionary studies.

Keywords: GWAS; Sr13; Yr15; diversity panel; leaf rust; stem rust; stripe rust; wheat.

Grants and funding

This work was conducted through the 4D Wheat Project awarded to CP and SC and supported by Genome Canada, Genome Prairie, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission, Alberta Wheat Development Commission, Secan, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the Manitoba Crop Alliance; and the “Maximizing Durable Disease Resistance in Wheat” Project awarded to CP and VK and sponsored by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture grant number ADF20200353.