ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci., 07 March 2024

Sec. Plant Breeding

Volume 15 - 2024 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2024.1343148

The genetics of Ug99 stem rust resistance in spring wheat variety ‘Linkert‘

  • 1. Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, United States

  • 2. Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), Food Crops Research Centre, Njoro, Kenya

  • 3. Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, United States

  • 4. Ethiopian Institute of Agriculture, Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center, Bishoftu, Ethiopia

  • 5. International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Texcoco, Mexico

  • 6. Cereal Disease Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Saint Paul, MN, United States

Abstract

Wheat stem rust caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt) threatens wheat production worldwide. The objective of this study was to characterize wheat stem rust resistance in ‘Linkert’, a variety with adult plant resistance effective to emerging wheat stem rust pathogen strain Ug99. Two doubled haploid (DH) populations and one recombinant inbred line (RIL) population were developed with ‘Linkert’ as a stem rust resistant parent. Hard red spring wheat variety ‘Forefront’ and genetic stock ‘LMPG’ were used as stem rust susceptible parents of the DH populations. Breeding line ‘MN07098-6’ was used as a susceptible parent of the RIL population. Both DH and RIL populations with their parents were evaluated both at the seedling stage and in the field against Pgt races. Genotyping data of the DH populations were generated using the wheat iSelect 90k SNP assay. The RIL population was genotyped by genotyping-by-sequencing. We found QTL consistently associated with wheat stem rust resistance on chromosome 2BS for the Linkert/Forefront DH population and the Linkert/MN07098-6 RIL population both in Ethiopia and Kenya. Additional reliable QTL were detected on chromosomes 5BL (125.91 cM) and 4AL (Sr7a) for the Linkert/LMPG population in Ethiopia and Kenya. Different QTL identified in the populations reflect the importance of examining the genetics of resistance in populations derived from adapted germplasm (Forefront and MN07098-6) in addition to a genetic stock (LMPG). The associated markers in this study could be used to track and select for the identified QTL in wheat breeding programs.

Introduction

Stem rust of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt) Erikss. & Henning, is a destructive disease of wheat worldwide (; ). The emergence of a race of Pgt known as Ug99 that defeats the widely deployed stem rust resistance gene, Sr31, poses a threat to wheat production (). The use of genetic resistance is a preferred strategy for mitigating losses from crop diseases including stem rust of wheat.

Breeding for disease resistance is one of the primary objectives of wheat improvement programs in the United States and worldwide. Since the early 20th century, there have been international collaborations on genetic resistance breeding for controlling stem rust disease in wheat (Triticum spp.) (; ; ; ). Consequently, to date 64 stem rust resistance (Sr) genes have been characterized and mapped to chromosome locations in wheat (). Out of these, 16 wheat Sr genes have been cloned by either map-based cloning (Sr13, Sr21, Sr33, Sr35, Sr50, Sr55, Sr57, Sr60, and Sr62) or target sequence capture approaches (Sr22, Sr26, Sr27, Sr43, Sr45, Sr46, and Sr61) (; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ). Since the discovery of Ug99, there has been an intensive search for resistance genes both in domesticated wheat and its wild relatives, and 36 numerically designated stem rust resistance genes that are effective to the Ug99 race group have been characterized (; ): Sr2, Sr12, Sr13, Sr14, Sr15, Sr21, Sr22, Sr25, Sr26, Sr27, Sr28, Sr29, Sr32, Sr33, Sr35, Sr37, Sr39, Sr40, Sr42, Sr43, Sr44, Sr45, Sr46, Sr47, Sr48, Sr50, Sr51, Sr52, Sr53, Sr55, Sr56, Sr57, Sr59, Sr61, Sr62, and Sr63. However, only few are available in conventional North American spring wheat germplasm including Sr2, Sr12, Sr13, Sr25, Sr55, and Sr57 (; ; ). In addition, many QTL have also been reported using bi-parental populations (; ; ; ; ; ), and association mapping (; ; ; ; ). Despite the availability of numerous genes and QTL, stem rust still remains a threat to wheat production worldwide due to continuous emergence of new Pgt races in different parts of the world and the lack of resistance deployed in conventional wheat varieties effective to the emerging races (; ; , ). This implies the importance of persistently carrying out resistance breeding in wheat through the identification and characterization of new resistance genes from both domestic germplasm and its wild relatives.

The development of new sequencing technologies has facilitated the discovery of a large number of SNP markers for many crop species such as hexaploid wheat (), barley (), rice () and maize (). Genomic/genomic resources such as wheat reference sequences ), wheat 90K iselect SNP chips () and genotype-by-sequencing (GBS), a reduced representation genotyping platform (), have been used effectively to discover genes/QTL for several traits including disease resistance in wheat.

Genetic resistance to rust pathogens can be generally grouped into two categories: resistance that is effective at all plant growth stages and resistance that is effective at the adult plant stage. All-stage resistance genes often confer major-effects and account for thirty of the thirty-six Ug99-effective genes. Adult plant resistance genes often confer relatively minor effects and include Sr2, Lr67/Sr55/Yr46/Pm46, Sr56, Lr34/Sr57Yr18/Pm38, Lr46/Sr58/Yr29/Pm39, and Sr63 (; ). These six designated adult plant resistance genes have not been reported to exhibit race-specificity supporting an expectation (, ) that effective adult plant resistance genes are non-race-specific. Though few examples of race-specific adult plant resistance genes have been reported for stripe rust (Yr11, 12, 13, and 14; ) and leaf rust (Lr12; ), the generally non-race-specific characteristic of adult plant resistance genes justifies an emphasis on adult plant resistance for achieving durable resistance to stem rust in wheat.

Though an abundance of genetic sources of resistance exist to emerging stem rust races, few conventional wheat varieties possess effective resistance. reported that only 16% of U.S. hard red spring wheat varieties and breeding lines showed resistance to the Ug99 race group. This susceptibility is significant as the U.S. hard red spring wheat growing region is historically vulnerable to major epidemics of wheat stem rust when virulent races are present, resulting in over 50% statewide yield losses in Minnesota and North Dakota during epidemic years. One exception to this widespread vulnerability is hard red spring wheat variety ‘Linkert’, released in 2013 by the University of Minnesota (). Linkert exhibited consistent adult plant resistance to Ug99 in Kenya (). Linkert became a successful variety that was grown on 833,900 acres in Minnesota and North Dakota in 2018 and was the most widely grown wheat variety in Minnesota from 2016 to 2020. The objective of this study was to characterize the genetics of stem rust resistance in ‘Linkert’ with particular attention to the adult plant resistance exhibited to Ug99.

Materials and methods

Mapping populations

Two doubled haploid (DH) mapping populations were developed by crossing Linkert with both hard red spring wheat variety ‘Forefront’ () and genetic stock LMPG-6 (‘Little Club’//3 3 ‘Prelude’/8 3 Marquis’/3/’Gabo’), a highly rust susceptible, day length insensitive line that was developed for the purpose of producing near-isogenic lines for Sr genes (). ‘Linkert’ is a hard red spring wheat developed and released by the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station (MAES) in 2013. Linkert is one of the highest quality hard red winter wheats with yield comparable to other high protein varieties and better disease resistance. Doubled haploid progeny were produced at a service facility at Washington State University through a modified maize pollination method (). A recombinant inbred line (RIL) population was derived through single seed descent to the F6 generation after crossing Linkert and University of Minnesota breeding line ‘MN07098-6’. A total of 107, 190, and 172 lines were derived from the Linkert/Forefront (LK/FF), Linkert/LMPG-6 (LK/LM), and Linkert/MN07098-6 (09X149) populations, respectively.

Disease evaluations

The lines in the DH populations with their parents were evaluated in the field for three years (2016-2018) in Kenya for response to the Ug99 race group (Pgt races including TTKSK, TTKTT), and in Ethiopia for response to Pgt races TKTTF, TTKSK, TRTTF and JRCQC (). The RIL population (F6:8 generation) was evaluated in Kenya and Ethiopia for two years (2016 and 2017). The DH populations were also evaluated at Rosemont, MN for three years (2015-2017) with four domestic Pgt races evaluated in single race nurseries inoculated with races QTHJC, QFCSC, TPMKC and RCRSC, according to previously described methods (). Mixtures of spores of Pgt races for field evaluations were inoculated both in Ethiopia and Kenya (). Stem rust severity was visually scored in the experimental plots based on the modified Cobb scale of 0-100, where 0 = immunity (no uredinia or any other sign of infection) and 100% = completely susceptible (). Infection response was rated as resistant (R), small uredinia surrounded by necrosis; moderately resistant (MR), medium-sized uredinia surrounded by necrosis or chlorosis; moderately susceptible (MS), medium-sized uredinia without necrosis; susceptible (S), large uredinia without necrosis; or MRMS, an infection response that included both the MR and MS categories (). Coefficient of infection (COI) values were generated by multiplying the stem rust severity value for each line by a constant value for each infection response: 0 = 0, R = 0.2, RMR = 0.3, MR = 0.4, M = 0.6, MS = 0.8, S = 1.0 (). Average coefficient of infection for the two replicates were determined and used for analyses. Raw mean coefficients of infection values across the two randomized replicates in each environment were used for QTL analyses.

At the seedling stage, the DH populations and parents were evaluated with Pgt races QTHJC (isolate 0069MN399), QFCSC (isolate 95MN1080), TPMKC (isolate 74MN1409), RCRSC (isolate 00MN99C), TRTTF (06YEM34-1), and TKTTF (isolate 13ETH18-1) according to previously described methods (). All four parents were susceptible as seedlings to race TTKSK (04KEN156/04; Ug99 race group).

DNA extraction and genotyping

Tissues were harvested from approximately two weeks old seedlings of the populations and parents and grown in a greenhouse before placing into 96-well plates. The harvested leaves were dried in a lyophilizer and ground for 2 min using a Genogrinder (SPEX Sample Prep). DNA extraction was carried out following an SDS method: 300 µl extraction buffer (200 mM Tris-HCL pH 8.0, 250 mM NaCl, 25 mM EDTA, 0.5% SDS, ddH20) was added to each well followed by gently shaking the 96-well plates before adding 300 µl of chloroform:isoamyl alcohol (24:1) to each well. The suspension was mixed for 3 minutes on a plate shaker followed by centrifuging for 20 min at 2500 rpm, and the supernatant (200-300 µl) was transferred to separate tubes.

After decanting the supernatant, 300 µl of 70% ethanol was added to each tube, the tubes were centrifuged for 20 min at 2,500 rpm, the ethanol was poured out, and the DNA pellets were air-dried. When the pellets were completely dry, 100 µl of 1xTE was added to each tube to resuspend the pellet. DNA was quantified using a NanoDrop 1000 spectrophotometer (Thermo Fisher, Waltham, MA, United States).

Genotyping data of the DH populations were generated using the iSelect 90k SNP assay developed for wheat (). SNPs with minor allele frequency (MAF) less than 25% were removed, all monomorphic markers and markers with missing data points for one or both parental genotypes were also removed. No heterozygote genotypes were retained in the data set. Missing data points were represented by “-”. SNPs with > 10% missing data points were removed, and none of the lines were removed as missing data for all individuals for a given SNP was < 1%. SNPs with segregation distortion p-values of less than 0.5 were removed before creating linkage maps for both DH populations. For the LK/FF population, one SNP was removed due to high missing values in the segregation distortion filtered data set. However, for the LK/LM population, all SNPs had missing values < 6.4% and none of the SNPs were removed. SNPs with lod error () values greater than four were removed for the final linkage map construction. After applying the filtering criteria described above, a total of 1,091 and 1,552 high quality SNPs were used for QTL mapping for LK/FF and LK/LM populations, respectively. These SNP markers were used to make linkage groups using JoinMap 4.0 (). The Kosambi mapping function was used to estimate the map distance.

Genomic DNA from the Linkert/MN07098-6 population was extracted using the BioSprint 96 DNA Plant Kit (QIAGEN, Valencia, CA) and genotyped using the genotype-by-sequencing approach (). Reads were filtered for phred quality score (Q) of ≥ 30 and de-multiplexed using ‘sabre’ (https://github.com/najoshi/sabre, accessed 05-12-2022). Filtered reads were aligned to the Triticum aestivum v1.0 reference sequence () using default parameters in the Burrows-Wheeler Aligner 0.7.5 (). Discovery of genome-wide markers (SNPs) was done using default parameters in SAMtools 1.6 and BCFtools 1.6 (; ). SNPs with heterozygote level and missing data points greater than 10% and 25%, respectively, were removed. A filtered data set comprised of 1,674 SNPs was used for QTL mapping.

Quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis was conducted in R package RQTL () with composite interval mapping (CIM) method using both seedling infection type data and field response data from the populations. Before QTL mapping, categorical field infection responses and seedling infection types were converted to a linear 0-9 scale (; ).

Results

Phenotypic evaluation

Linkert was susceptible at the seedling stage to virulent Pgt races such as TTKSK, TTKTT, and TTRTF, but was resistant to the Ethiopian TKTTF isolate. Forefront was also susceptible to both TTKSK and TTKTT (Table 1). Disease severity values ranged from 1- 47%, 4 - 44% and 4 - 25%, 65 - 70% for Linkert, Forefront, LMPG-6 and MN07098-6, respectively, for response to Pgt races in East Africa (Table 1). Although LMPG-6 had lower average severity percentage than Linkert and Forefront, the average coefficient of infection was similar for all the three parents (16.26- 17.24). For North American Pgt races, Linkert was resistant to all Pgt races (QFCSC, RCRSC, QTHJC and TPMKC) tested at the seedling stage whereas LMPG-6 was susceptible to all races. However, Forefront was resistant to QFCSC and RCRSC but susceptible to QTHJC and TPMKC races at the seedling stage (Table 2). There was strong phenotypic correlation between Ethiopia and Kenya field data based on severity and infection response except for the data from Kenya in 2016 and Ethiopia in 2017. Both severity and infection response data recorded in 2016 in Kenya were poorly correlated with other years in Kenya and Ethiopia (Figure 1; Supplementary Table 1).

Table 1

RaceVariety *MN07098-6Locations
LinkertForefrontLMPG-6
Mixture of Pgt races + Ug99 variants21.6 (1.0 - 47.0)22.5 (4.0 – 44.0)13.75 (4.0 – 25.0)65.0 - 70.0Kenya and Ethiopia
TPMKC11.8 (5.0 – 20.0)13.8 (5.0 - 20.0)57.5 (55.0-60.0)Rosemount
QTHJC9.4 (7.5 – 10.0)21.9 (10 - 32.5)55.63 (50.0-60.0)Rosemount
QFCSC10.0 (10.0 - 12.5)13.1 (5.0 - 22.5)62.5 (57.5 – 65.0)Rosemount
RCRSC11.3 (10.0 - 12.5)18.8 (15 - 22.5)22.5Rosemount

Disease severity (%) recorded for Linkert, Forefront, LMPG-6 and MN07098-6 to different stem rust races at different locations (Rosemount, Kenya and Ethiopia).

*Number in parentheses are mean of severity records across replications.

Table 2

RaceVariety *MN07098-6Locations
LinkertForefrontLMPG-6
TTKSK3+3+3+, 33+3+Greenhouse
TKTTF0;10;13, 33+13-, 0;Greenhouse
TRTT33+23+3+Greenhouse
TPMKC22+, 23-3+, 32+33+Greenhouse
QTHJC1;, 133+, 33-C3 + 3, 33+Greenhouse
QFCSC0;0;33+Greenhouse
RCRSC0;13+0;1Greenhouse

Seedling infection types recorded for Linkert, Forefront, LMPG-6 and MN07098-6 to different stem rust race in controlled greenhouse.

*Number in parentheses are mean of severity records across replications.

Figure 1

Seedling infection type (IT) values in linear scale less than six were considered as resistant whereas IT values greater than six were considered as susceptible. All individuals of the Linkert/Forefront population were resistant to Pgt races QFCSC and RCRSC. For all races tested in this study the percentage of resistant lines was greater than 50% except for response to race TPMKC which resulted in resistance in only 35.7% of the Linkert/Forefront and 29.4% of the Linkert/LMPG individuals (Table 3).

Table 3

Linkert/LMPG-6Linkert/Forefront
ResistantSusceptibleResistantSusceptible
Pgt QTHJC70915742
Pgt QFCSC14915990
Pgt TPMKC471134163
Pgt RCRSC99551030
Pgt TKTTF8543
Pgt TRTTF3946

Number of resistant and susceptible lines based on seedling reaction following inoculation with six Pgt.

Genetic linkage maps

For Linkert/Forefront population, a total of 1,088 SNPs from 90k SNP chip mapped to 25 linkage groups, and these 25 linkage groups corresponded to 19 wheat chromosomes. Apart from two wheat chromosomes, 6D and 7D, all wheat chromosomes were represented in the map of Linkert/Forefront population (Figure 2). For both populations, chromosome 7B comprised the highest number of SNPs whereas chromosomes 3D (5 SNPs) and 4D (11 SNPs) had the lowest number of SNPs for LK/FF and LK/LM populations, respectively (Supplementary Tables 2A, B). For the Linkert/LMPG-6 (LK/LM) population a total of 1,552 SNPs from 90k SNP chip mapped to 25 linkage groups. However, the 25 linkage groups were assigned to 17 wheat chromosomes. Five chromosomes (3D, 5D, 6D and 7D) all were from D genome were missing from the linkage (Figure 3; Supplemental Table 2B). Since SNP identification was carried out using wheat genome reference sequence for the validation population, Linkert/MN07098-6, linkage map creation was not attempted because we were able to generate this population specific physical map for the 1,674 GBS SNPs (Figure 3). Unlike 90K SNP chip, all 21 wheat chromosomes were recovered for the GBS platform and chromosome 6B had the highest number of SNPs (2540) whereas only three SNPs passed the filtering criteria for chromosome 4D (Supplementary Table 2C). Relatively GBS SNPs were only evenly distributed on chromosome 6B but for the remaining chromosomes SNPs that met the filtering criteria (see Materials and Methods section) were mainly on the terminal ends of chromosomes. However, unlike GBS, large gap size on linkage maps were not observed for the 90K SNP chip most of the cases.

Figure 2

Figure 3

QTL analyses

In this study, after considering QTL within five centimorgans as redundant QTL, a total of 55 significant QTL distributed on 18 chromosomes were detected for all populations evaluated both under field and seedling stages for resistance to stem rust (Tables 47). QTL were detected on all chromosomes except 5D and 7D. Although the phenotypic variance explained was less than 20% in most cases, the QTL detected on chromosomes 1BL and 4DS in the LK/LM population evaluated in the field for race QFCSC and the QTL on chromosome 4AL for race TKTTF at the seedling stage explained substantial amounts of phenotypic variation (38.4-69.0%). In this study, all-stage QTL were detected only on chromosomes 1B (52.0 cM) and 4AL for race RCRSC detected in the Linkert/Forefront and Linkert/LMPG-6 populations, respectively (Tables 4, 5). The remaining detected QTL were expressed only either at seedling or adult plant stages.

Table 4

YearQTL nameQTL position (cM)ChrMarker @ QTLLeft flankingRight flankingLOD% Variance explained by QTLAdditive effect (a) *populationComments
DZ 2017QSr.cdl.2BS1.862Bwsnp_Ku_c48_103915Tdurum_contig29563_109GENE-0818_3478.119.672.44 (LK)LK/FF
DZ 2018QSr.cdl.2BS1.862Bwsnp_Ku_c48_103915Tdurum_contig29563_109wsGENE-0818_3474.529.671.96 (LK)LK/FF
DZ 2017QSr.cdl.4AL2.634A2CAP12_c2972_140wsnp_BG313770B_Ta_1_1Kukri_c17417_4074.3016.622.47 (LK)LK/LM
DZ 2017QSr.cdl.4DS53.004Dwsnp_Ex_c34252_42593715RAC875_c67855_5293.1011.181.78 (LK)LK/LMNew
DZ 2017QSr.cdl.5BL125.915BCAP12_c2189_159BS00022662_51RFL_Contig4205_6793.5513.11-1.98 (LM)LK/LM; ;
DZ 2018QSr.cdl.4DS52.04Dwsnp_Ex_c34252_42593715RAC875_c67855_5295.449.041.68(LK)LK/LMNew
DZ 2018QSr.cdl.6A59.576AIACX3586Ra_c8185_676Excalibur_c26057_10493.753.03-1.50 (LM)LK/LM;
Ken 2017QSr.cdl.1AS25.01AKukri_c56494_585BobWhite_c20553_3643.2911.47-0.97 (FF)LK/FF; Bajgain et al., 2015,
QSr.cdl.2BS0.02BTdurum_contig29563_109Tdurum_contig29563_109GENE-0818-3473.1411.040.94 (LK)LK/FF
Ken 2018QSr.cdl.2BS1.862BBS00064164_51Tdurum_contig29563_109GENE-0818-3474.379.020.95 (LK)LK/FF
Ken 2018QSr.cdl.1BL11.11B2BS00029539_51Ra_c40444_243BobWhite_c27474_1543.024.462.67 (LK)LK/LMNew
2018QSr.cdl.4DS32.04Dwsnp_BF473052D-Ta-_2_-1Kukri_c159-61-704.121.571.63 (LK)LK/LMNew
Ken 2018QSr.cdl.5BL128.015BKukri_c57954_369Tdurum_contig58442_188RFL_Contig4205_6794.093.33-2.20 (LM)LK/LM; ;

Adult-stage stem rust QTL detected for Linkert/Forefront (LK/FF) and Linkert/LMPG-6 (LK/LM) populations in Ethiopia and Kenya using coefficient of infection.

* Source parent of resistant allele is indicated in parenthesis.

Table 5

PopulationRaceYearQTL nameChrQTL pos (cM)Marker @ QTLLeft FlankingRight flankingLODPermutation LOD (5%) thresholdAdditive effect *%Variance explainedComments
LK/FFQTHJC2016QSr.cdl.1DS1D7.0IAAV5858BS00066446_513.891.81-1.07 (FF)6.79; .
QSr.cdl.2BS2B6.0wsnp_Ku_c48_103915GENE-0818_34710.801.812.78 (LK)7.59
2017QSr.cdl.3AS3A9.19wsnp_Ex_c12850_20377830RAC875_c61343_2501.861.810.78 (LK)5.40
LK/FFQFCSC2015QSr.cdl.7BL7B144.0BS00085556_51BS00077956_5149.41.04-0.05 (FF)1.52; ;
2016QSr.cdl.7BS7B21Ex_c3265_2068IACX1983.571.04-0.63 (FF)3.80
2017QSr.cdl.3BS3B27.3wsnp_JD_c10233_10936535wsnp_Ku_c17718_26860963wsnp_JD_c10233_10936535107.531.04-1.54 (FF)3.94;
LK/LMQFCSC2015QSr.cdl.1BL1B26.0Ra_c40444-243BobWhite_c2092-51940.011.20-213.81 (LM)63.99
2016QSr.cdl.1BL1B212.0Ra_c40444_243RFL_Contig5906_3873.121.20223.37 (LK)68.99
2016QSr.cdl.3BS3B13.72Excalibur_c45968_83Excalibur_c45968_83Excalibur_c45968_838.011.2012.00 (LK)3.14;
2017QSr.cdl.4DS4D36.00wsnp_Ex_c34252_42593715Kukri_c15961_7041.231.207.92 (LK)38.36New
LK/FFRCRSC2017QSr.cdl.1BS1B52.0RAC875_c25125_210GENE-0165_38914.122.850.034 (FF)4.85
QSr.cdl.3AL3A96.0RAC875_rep_c109228_400IAAV904423.62.850.03 (LK)2.93
LK/LMRCRSC2015QSr.cdl.5BL5B122.23BS00000848_51Tdurum_contig47816_258BS00080474_514.920.516.32 (LK)1.03;
2015QSr.cdl.1BL1B210.57BobWhite_c2092_519Ra_c40444_243BobWhite_c27474_1542.480.51-6.07 (LM)1.81
2016QSr.cdl.3AL3A25.82BobWhite_c11935_137RAC875_c15390_459BS00004149_515.820.517.50 (LK)1.28
2016QSr.cdl.4AL4A22.63CAP12_c2972_140wsnp_BG313770B_Ta_1_1Kukri_c17417_4072.630.5118.21 (LK)1.97;
2017QSr.cdl.5BL5B121.69Excalibur_rep_c105964_928Ex_c67086_584Excalibur_rep_c88310_13944.120.5111.23 (LK)1.94;
LK/FFTPMKC2015QSr.cdl.7AL7A157.0wsnp_Ex_c8692_14557179Ra_c9427_30018.571.717.16 (LK)10.61; ;
2016QSr.cdl.2AS2A8.0GENE-1177_1952.751.718.45 (LK)17.32
2017QSr.cdl.1BL1B79.00Tdurum_contig81102_102Tdurum_contig57731_412Tdurum_contig81102_1023.081,71-0.17 (FF)2.97;
LK/LMTPMKC2015QSr.cdl.4BS4B45.00RAC875_c2542_815BobWhite_c42663_7063.80.740.60 (LK)2.76; ;
2016QSr.cdl.1BS1B0.0wsnp_RFL_Contig3951_4390396BobWhite_c23617_167TA003668-03642.740.74-8.32 (LM)5.04; , ;
2016QSr.cdl.1BL1B26.00BS00022323_51BobWhite_c2092_5192.760.74-2.71 (LM)1.97;
2016QSr.cdl.5AS5A47.0Tdurum_contig82190_1242.390.74-8.67 (LM)6.31
2016QSr.cdl.5BL5B123.8BS00080474_51wsnp_Ex_c58091_59534826RFL_Contig4205_6792.010.747.32 (LK)6.18;
2016QSr.cdl.7AS7A27.02Ku_c6386_1034CAP12_c2951_105Excalibur_c8066_7912.790.747.60 (LK)4.56; ;

QTL identified for North American domestic stem rust races in Linkert/Forefront (LK/FF) and Linkert/LMPG-6 (LK/LM) populations evaluated at Rosemount, MN.

*Source parents of resistant allele are indicated in parathesis.

Table 6

RaceQTL nameQTL positionChrMarker @ QTLLeft FlankingRight flankingLODPermutation
LOD (5%) threshold
%Variance
explained
Additive effect *PopulationComments
QTHJCQSr.cdl.7BS43.07BIACX198wsnp_Ex_c2103_39476953.063.038.960.95 (LK)LK/FFNew
TPMKCQSr.cdl.2BS1.862BBS00064164_51Tdurum_contig29563_109GENE-0818_3474.213.032.300.01 (LK)LK/FF
TPMKCQSr.cdl.7BS15.047BBobWhite_c47269_128Ex_c3265_2068IACX1984.733.033.43-0.07 (FF)LK/FF
RCRSCQSr.cdl.1BS51.01BRAC875_c25125_210BS00062740_514.633.031.280.18 (FF)LK/FF
QFCSCQSr.cdl.3BS19.003BBS00089954_51Excalibur_c45968_83wsnp_Ku_c1391_27710507.972.872.180.19 (LK)LK/LM;
RCRSQSr.cdl.2AS6.852ARa_c58279_702BS00073381_51Excalibur_c51876_1894.162.873.60-0.25 (LM)LK/LM
RCRSQSr.cdl.4AL2.634A2CAP12_c2972_140wsnp_BG313770B_Ta_1_1Kukri_c17417_4077.632.873.01-0.20 (LM)LK/LM;
TKTTFQSr.cdl.4AL2.114A2Excalibur_c19666_778wsnp_BG313770B_Ta_1_1Kukri_c17417_4079.312.9924.9021.60 (LK)LK/LM;

Seedling QTL for domestic races and race TKTTF based on infection type (IT) for Linkert/Forefront (LK/FF) and Linkert/LMPG-6 (LK/LM) populations.

*Source parents of resistant allele are indicated in parenthesis.

Table 7

EnvironmentChrQTL pos (mbp)Marker @QTLLeft flankingRight flankingLODAdditive effectPEV (%)Comments
ETH2016 (MS)2B30.1chr2B_30100675chr2B_28328844chr2B_403543758.276.1019.32
4B506.3**3.24-0.991.54; ;
Ken2016 (MS)2B32.9chr2B_30100675chr2B_4035437516.115.4016.15
3A568.3**4.400.440.54;
3D109.9**6.501.160.62New
4A552.4**4.98-0.380.70;
4B527.3**4.860.350.01
Ken2017 (OS)2A638.6**3.640.750.63;
2B28.9chr2B_24907176chr2B_4035437514.405.787.40
3B104.3**3.710.630.53New
3D328.9**4.15-0.390.02
4A520.4**4.73-0.470.13
4B78.3**4.08-0.130.11New
4D287.9**3.89-0.080.15
5A401.7**4.62-0.020.40; ;
6D133.2**3.810.390.70
7B345.4**3.890.420.03New

QTL identified for Linkert/MN07098-6 population evaluated at Kenya and Ethiopia for two seasons.

-= No marker at the identified QTL; * Flanking marker are far away from the identified QTL

A majority of the QTL were population, environment, and race-specific. However, one QTL (marker: CAP12_c2189_159) on chromosome 2BS (1.9 cM) was detected across two populations in multiple environments (Tables 4, 7). It was also detected for field response to race QTHJC and seedling response to race TPMKC (Tables 5, 6). A population-specific stable QTL was detected on chromosome 5BL (125.9 cM) in the LK/LM population across environments in Ethiopia and Kenya (Table 4). It also provided field resistance against races RCRSC and TPMKC (Table 5). The gene Sr7a was detected on 4AL (marker: CAP12QT_c2972_140) in the LK/LM population in Ethiopia and in Rosemont for response to RCRSC in 2016, and seedling response to race TKTTF. In Linkert/MN07098-6, a QTL on chromosome 2BS (30.1 Mbp) was consistently detected and explained up to 19.3% of the phenotypic variation (Table 7). At chromosome level, Linkert/MN07098-6 had a total 11 chromosomes on which QTL were detected and some of the QTL had similar chromosome regions (e.g., 2BS) as detected in other populations.

Discussion

The objective of this study was to characterize the genetics of stem rust resistance in the hard red spring wheat variety Linkert by testing progenies developed by crossing with three stem rust susceptible lines, cultivar Forefront, breeding line MN07098-6, and genetic stock LMPG-6, with different Pgt races in the field and at the seedling stage in a greenhouse.

A reliable stem rust QTL was identified on chromosome 2BS in the Linkert/Forefront and Linkert/MN07098-6 populations. Interestingly, in addition to conferring adult plant resistance to the Ug99 race group in African field environments, it was detected at the seedling stage for response to race TPMKC. In addition to relatively consistent expression under different environments, the phenotypic variation explained by the QTL was also substantial (9.02-19.32%). Seven Sr genes have been reported on 2BS, and out of these Sr36, Sr39, and Sr40 (; ; ) are effective against the Ug99 race TTKSK. However, the QTL detected in this study is only effective to the Ug99 race group at the adult growth stage, excluding the previously described major effect all-stage resistance genes on chromosome arm 2BS. The coincidence of this QTL with seedling response to race TPMKC warrants further study. also detected a QTL (QSr.cdl-2BS.2) on 2BS using field-tested recombinant inbred lines derived from a cross made between CI 14275 (resistant parent) and LMPG-6 (susceptible parent), and the KASP marker that was developed from SNP Excalibur_c7963_1722_C1 was also associated with reduced stem rust severity. Thus, the resistance in Linkert and CI 14275 is most likely similar. Previous QTL mapping studies have also shown that there were at least eight QTL regions on the short arm of chromosome 2B (from 0-160 mbp range) detected in both GWAS and bi-parental populations (; ; ; ; ), and the associated SNPs were IWB2369 (pos: 48.5 cM; 31.50 mbp), IWB69830 (pos: 46.76 cM; 31.30 mbp), IWB24614 (104. 80 mbp), IWB32327 (104.80 mbp), IWB23439 (48.04 cM; 55.04 mbp), and BS00073426-51 (160.00 mbp). Gene Sr23 mapped on distal end of 2BS and was described as completely linked with Lr16 (b) and expressed under conditions of high temperature and high light intensity (). All cultivars that possess Lr16 also were reported to possess Sr23 (). Cultivars such as Exchange, Selkirk, Warden and Etoile de choisy are sources of Sr23. A recent report also indicated that Lr16 is present in North American cultivars such as ‘AC Domain’, ‘AC Karma’, ‘AC Majestic’, ‘AC Splendor’, ‘Columbus’, and ‘Grandin’ (). Although major gene Lr16/Sr23 was mapped on chromosome 2BS, it is unlikely that the QTL detected in the current study is Lr16/Sr23 because the QTL is mapped 21 cM away from that of the Lr16/Lr23 position.

The Linkert/LMPG-6 population possessed a relatively consistent QTL on chromosome 4AL (SNP: CAP12_c2972_140) that provided resistance against different Pgt races both at seedling and adult stages implying it can provide all-stage resistance against stem rust races RCRSC and TKTTF. reported a strong association signal in the region of major gene Sr7a for resistance against race RCRSC. Similarly, in this study the QTL on chromosome 4AL was detected at adult and seedling stages for Pgt race RCRSC, indicating Linkert possesses gene Sr7a, as previously postulated ().

The QTL detected on chromosome 5BL in Linkert/LMPG-6 was relatively stable. This region of 122-128 cM on the long arm of chromosome 5B harbored a QTL that provided field resistance against virulent races in East Africa (Ethiopia and Kenya) and North American Pgt races (RCRSC and TPMKC). This QTL was detected in the Linkert/LMPG-6 population but not in the Linkert/Forefront or Linkert/MN07098-6 populations. Stem rust resistance gene Sr56 that confers adult plant resistance (APR) was mapped on chromosome 5BL (). Several QTL have been reported using both bi-parental populations and GWAS including adult plant resistance gene Sr56 (; ; ). In previous studies the 5BL QTL representing Sr56 explained 10-13% phenotypic variation and contributed an important component of the “Sr2 complex” (). The QTL detected in the current study explained up to 13% of phenotypic variation, and the QTL, QSr.Sun-5BL, reported by also explained 11 to 12% of the phenotypic variation in adult plant stem rust response and was responsible for a 12-15% reduction in stem rust severity. Since Sr56 was first reported from European ‘Arina’ winter wheat, a pedigree link between Sr56 and Linkert is not known. Further studies are warranted to determine if the 5BL QTL is Sr56. It is possible that both Forefront and MN07098-6 also possess the resistance allele of the 5BL QTL, which would explain why it was not detected in the corresponding populations.

Besides stem rust QTL on 2BS, 5BL, and 4AL, numerous environment and population-specific QTL were found that corresponded with previously reported QTL. Three QTL were detected on chromosome 7A. Two of them provided resistance against Pgt race TPMKC (pos: 157.0 cM and 27.0 cM). Several QTL have been reported on 7AL (; ) for stem rust resistance, and the major genes Sr15 and Sr22 are located on 7AL (; ). Similarly, QTL were detected on chromosome 7B for stem rust resistance. Two QTL that provided field resistance against races QTHJC (pos: 126.0 cM) and QFCSC (pos: 144.0 cM) were detected on 7BL. also reported QTL for Pgt race QFCSC on 7BL (pos: 109.0 cM) using association mapping.

The seedling and single-race field experiments in Rosemount, MN facilitated a precise evaluation of resistance QTL to the four races evaluated. As expected, all-stage resistance gene Sr7a was consistently detected in both seedling and field studies in response to avirulent race RCRSC. However, the other QTL were detected only in seedling or field environments. This seems to contrast with the expectation that QTL detected at the seedling stage would be effective in the field consistent with “all-stage” resistance. This may be explained by the relatively low effectiveness of the seedling QTL detected other than Sr7a. Not detecting these weakly effective QTL in the field may be the result of (1) true ineffectiveness of these QTL in the field or (2) the masking of weakly effective all-stage QTL by the presence of adult plant resistance loci. Our results are similar with the findings of an association mapping study conducted by where conventional North American spring wheat lines possesses largely seedling- or field-effective QTL. Only the most strongly effective QTL were detected in both seedling and field studies.

In conclusion, despite the large number of environment and race-specific QTL identified in the current study, we found Linkert derived QTL that were consistently associated with adult plant resistance to Ug99 stem rust on chromosome 2BS in the Linkert/Forefront and Linkert/MN07098-6 populations. Additional QTL were detected consistently on chromosomes 5BL (125.9 cM) and 4AL (Sr7a) with the Linkert/LMPG population. Combined with the detection of the QTL on 2BS in previous studies, the identification of the 2BS QTL in the two populations derived from conventional germplasm demonstrates the importance of this QTL in contributing towards stem rust adult plant resistance in United States hard red spring wheat.

Statements

Data availability statement

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary Materials, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding authors.

Author contributions

EE: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. ZK: Writing – review & editing. PB: Data curation, Writing – review & editing. KN: Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Writing – review & editing. AG: Data curation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing. SB: Resources, Writing – review & editing. JA: Funding acquisition, Project administration, Resources, Writing – review & editing. MR: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing – review & editing.

Funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Financial support was obtained from the USDA-ARS National Plant Disease Recovery System.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2024.1343148/full#supplementary-material

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Summary

Keywords

QTL, stem rust, wheat, disease resistance, 90K iSelect

Citation

Edae EA, Kosgey Z, Bajgain P, Ndung'u KC, Gemechu A, Bhavani S, Anderson JA and Rouse MN (2024) The genetics of Ug99 stem rust resistance in spring wheat variety ‘Linkert‘. Front. Plant Sci. 15:1343148. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1343148

Received

23 November 2023

Accepted

12 February 2024

Published

07 March 2024

Volume

15 - 2024

Edited by

Dilip R. Panthee, North Carolina State University, United States

Reviewed by

Jingzhong Xie, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China

Dragan Perovic, Julius Kühn-Institut, Germany

Updates

Copyright

*Correspondence: Erena A. Edae, ; Matthew N. Rouse,

Disclaimer

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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