Triticale powdery mildew: population characterization and wheat gene efficiency.

Powdery mildew has emerged on triticale in the early 2000s in many locations, probably due to a host range expansion of the wheat formae speciales, Blumeria graminis f.sp. tritici. Many triticale cultivars are highly susceptible to powdery mildew, mainly in seedling stage, revealing a probably narrow genetic basis for powdery mildew resistance genes (Pm). Moreover, as Blumeria graminis is an obligate biotrophic fungus, it is very time consuming and difficult to maintain powdery mildew isolates for a non-specialized laboratory and populations can evolve. In order to identify wheat Pm genes efficient against natural populations of powdery mildew, wheat differential hosts and triticale seedlings were inoculated below susceptible triticale crop naturally contaminated by mildew, in several locations and several years. Symptoms on seedlings were measured after approximately two weeks of incubation in favorable fungus growth conditions. According to these data, we classified the Pm genes presents in our wheat differential hosts set in 3 classes: Pm already overcame by triticale powdery mildew, Pm having variable effects and Pm still efficient against triticale mildew. Data on triticale seedlings allowed us to identify some few triticale cultivars resistant to Blumeria graminis in seedling stage. We will try to identify Pm genes present in those cultivars next year by testing them with the characterized isolates of powdery mildew from Gent University. Nevertheless, interspecific crossing of wheat, resistant to powdery mildew in seedling stage, and rye have been initiated to introduce potentially interesting genes for resistance in triticale.

Genetic analysis of resistance to septoria tritici blotch in the French winter wheat cultivars Balance and Apache.

The ascomycete Mycosphaerella graminicola is the causal agent of septoria tritici blotch (STB), one of the most destructive foliar diseases of bread and durum wheat globally, particularly in temperate humid areas. A screening of the French bread wheat cultivars Apache and Balance with 30 M. graminicola isolates revealed a pattern of resistant responses that suggested the presence of new genes for STB resistance. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis of a doubled haploid (DH) population with five M. graminicola isolates in the seedling stage identified four QTLs on chromosomes 3AS, 1BS, 6DS and 7DS, and occasionally on 7DL. The QTL on chromosome 6DS flanked by SSR markers Xgpw5176 and Xgpw3087 is a novel QTL that now can be designated as Stb18. The QTLs on chromosomes 3AS and 1BS most likely represent Stb6 and Stb11, respectively, and the QTLs on chromosome 7DS are most probably identical with Stb4 and Stb5. However, the QTL identified on chromosome 7DL is expected to be a new Stb gene that still needs further characterization. Multiple isolates were used and show that not all isolates identify all QTLs, which clearly demonstrates the specificity in the M. graminicola-wheat pathosystem. QTL analyses were performed with various disease parameters. The development of asexual fructifications (pycnidia) in the characteristic necrotic blotches of STB, designated as parameter P, identified the maximum number of QTLs. All other parameters identified fewer but not different QTLs. The segregation of multiple QTLs in the Apache/Balance DH population enabled the identification of DH lines with single QTLs and multiple QTL combinations. Analyses of the marker data of these DH lines clearly demonstrated the positive effect of pyramiding QTLs to broaden resistance spectra as well as epistatic and additive interactions between these QTLs. Phenotyping of the Apache/Balance DH population in the field confirmed the presence of the QTLs that were identified in the seedling stage, but Stb18 was inconsistently expressed and might be particularly effective in young plants. In contrast, an additional QTL for STB resistance was identified on chromosome 2DS that is exclusively and consistently expressed in mature plants over locations and time, but it was also strongly related with earliness, tallness as well as resistance to Fusarium head blight. Although to date no Stb gene has been reported on chromosome 2D, the data provide evidence that this QTL is only indirectly related to STB resistance. This study shows that detailed genetic analysis of contemporary commercial bread wheat cultivars can unveil novel Stb genes that can be readily applied in marker-assisted breeding programs.