The Detection of Yr Genes in Xinjiang Wheat Cultivars Using Different Molecular Markers

Abstract

Wheat stripe rust is a fungal disease caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. Tritici (Pst). It significantly impacts wheat yields in Xinjiang, China. Breeding and promoting disease-resistant cultivars carrying disease-resistance genes remains the most cost-effective strategy with which to control the disease. In this study, 17 molecular markers were used to identify Yr5, Yr9, Yr10, Yr15, Yr17, Yr18, Yr26, Yr41, Yr44, and Yr50 in 82 wheat cultivars from Xinjiang. According to the differences in SNP loci, the KASP markers for Yr30, Yr52, Yr78, Yr80, and Yr81 were designed and detected in the same set of 82 wheat cultivars. The results showed that there was a diverse distribution of Yr genes across all wheat cultivars in Xinjiang, and the detection rates of Yr5, Yr15, Yr17, Yr26, Yr41, and Yr50 were the highest, ranging from 74.39% to 98.78%. In addition, Yr5 and Yr15 were prevalent in spring wheat cultivars, with detection rates of 100% and 97.56%, respectively. A substantial 85.37% of wheat cultivars carried at least six or more different combinations of Yr genes. The cultivar Xindong No.15 exhibited the remarkable presence of 11 targeted Yr genes. The pedigree analysis results showed that 33.33% of Xinjiang wheat cultivars shared similar parentage, potentially leading to a loss of resistance against Pst. The results clarified the Yr gene distribution of the Xinjiang wheat cultivars and screened out varieties with a high resistance against Pst.

Comparative analysis of stripe rust resistance in seedling stage and Yr gene incidence in spring and winter wheat from Xinjiang, China

“…The highly virulent race CYR34 has overcome resistance previously conveyed by Yr26 ( Han et al., 2010 ). Based on a previous study of wheat in Xinjiang, the frequency of Yr5 is approximately 100% in spring and winter wheat, and that of Yr26 is 84.15% ( Zhang et al., 2023 ). This is in contrast to our results, where we did not identify Yr5 in either wheat population, and similarly no Yr26 gene in spring wheat and only one Yr26 gene in a winter wheat line (2014-132-7).…”

“…With the source variation of stripe rust and the emergence of new virulence factors, many single resistance genes have been overcome. In a previous analysis of wheat resistance genes, polymerization or stacking of multiple genes has been shown to effectively improve resistance ( Zhang et al., 2023 ). In this study, we found that most of the wheat varieties in Xinjiang contained two or more Yr genes.…”

“…We further correlate resistance phenotypes to the prevalence of 10 stripe rust resistance genes, as identified with appropriate molecular markers. While the distribution of wheat stripe rust resistance genes in Xinjiang has been recently evaluated, this study is the first to directly assess resistance phenotypes in tandem with the identification of resistance genes ( Zhang et al., 2023 ). This work provides valuable resources for the identification of breeding targets for enhancing wheat stripe rust resistance from the pool of Xinjiang wheat.…”

Screening of Endophytic Antagonistic Bacteria in Wheat and Evaluation of Biocontrol Potential against Wheat Stripe Rust

“…However, the screening of endophytic bacteria of different winter wheat varieties in Xinjiang and the use of strains with significant biocontrol potential to control wheat stripe rust have not been reported. At present, the main research on wheat stripe rust in Xinjiang focuses on physiological species identification [23,24], over-summering regions [25], resistance gene detection [26], deep learning recognition of disease [27], hyperspectral remote sensing [28][29][30], population genetic structures [31], and the minimum detection limit [32].…”