Identification, gene postulation and molecular tagging of a stripe rust resistance gene in synthetic wheat CI142

Stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (PST), is one of the most serious diseases of wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) worldwide. Of 94 Triticum durum/Aegilops tauschii synthetic wheat accessions tested, CI142 (Garza/Boy// Ae. squarrosa 271) was found to be resistant to 6 Chinese PST races. The resistance to stripe rust in CI142 was proven to be controlled by a single dominant gene, tentatively designated YrC142 . Gene postulation showed that the pathogenic specificity of CI142 is different from 21 other lines possessing known resistance genes, such as Yr10, Yr15, Yr24 , and Yr26 , located on chromosome 1B. Bulked segregant analysis (BSA) and F 2 segregation analysis of the CI142/Mingxian 169 cross were used to analyse the SSR markers linked to YrC142 . Five SSR markers were found to be closely associated with YrC142 in the order Xwmc419-YrC142-Xgwm273, Xbarc187-Xgwm18-Xwmc626 , in which the relative genetic distances of these SSR loci to the gene YrC142 were 5.4, 0.8, 0.8, 1.0, and 2.4 cM, respectively. Two SSR markers ( Xgwm273 −162 and Xgwm18 −168 ) distinguished YrC142 from Yr10, Yr15, Yr24 , and Yr26 , suggesting that these 2 SSR markers may be used as diagnostic ones for the gene in a wheat breeding program against stripe rust. Based on these findings, YrC142 is most likely a new gene or a new allele at the Yr26 locus, which provides an opportunity to diversify stripe rust-resistant resources for wheat breeding programs