Virulence of Egyptian Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici Population and Response of Egyptian Wheat Cultivars

Genome-wide association mapping highlights candidate genes and immune genotypes for net blotch and powdery mildew resistance in barley

Net blotch (NB) and powdery mildew (PM) are major barley diseases with the potential to cause a dramatic loss in grain yield. Breeding for resistant barley genotypes in combination with identifying candidate resistant genes will accelerate the genetic improvement for resistance to NB and PM. To address this challenge, a set of 122 highly diverse barley genotypes from 34 countries were evaluated for NB and PM resistance under natural infection for in two growing seasons. Moreover, four yield traits; plant height (Ph), spike length (SL), spike weight (SW), and the number of spikelets per spike (NOS) were recorded. High genetic variation was found among genotypes in all traits scored in this study. No significant phenotypic correlation was found in the resistance between PM and NB. Immune genotypes for NB and PM were identified. A total of 21 genotypes were immune to both diseases. Of the 21 genotypes, the German genotype HOR_9570 was selected as the most promising genotype that can be used for future breeding programs. Furthermore, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was used to identify resistant alleles to PM and NB. The results of GWAS revealed a set of 14 and 25 significant SNPs that were associated with increased resistance to PM and NB, respectively. This study provided very important genetic resources that are highly resistant to the Egyptian PM and NB pathotypes and revealed SNP markers that can be utilized to genetically improve resistance to PM and NB.

Novel genomic regions on chromosome 5B controlling wheat powdery mildew seedling resistance under Egyptian conditions

Wheat powdery mildew (PM) causes significant yield losses worldwide. None of the Egyptian wheat cultivars was detected to be highly resistant to such a severe disease. Therefore, a diverse spring wheat panel was evaluated for PM seedling resistance using different Bgt conidiospores collected from Egyptian fields in two growing seasons. The evaluation was done in two separate experiments. Highly significant differences were found between the two experiments suggesting the presence of different isolates populations. Highly significant differences were found among the tested genotypes confirming the ability to improve PM resistance using the recent panel. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) was done for each experiment separately and a total of 71 significant markers located within 36 gene models were identified. The majority of these markers are located on chromosome 5B. Haplotype block analysis identified seven blocks containing the significant markers on chromosome 5B. Five gene models were identified on the short arm of the chromosome. Gene enrichment analysis identified five and seven pathways based on the biological process and molecular functions respectively for the detected gene models. All these pathways are associated with disease resistance in wheat. The genomic regions on 5B seem to be novel regions that are associated with PM resistance under Egyptian conditions. Selection of superior genotypes was done and Grecian genotypes seem to be a good source for improving PM resistance under Egyptian conditions.

Two pathogen loci determine Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici virulence to wheat resistance gene Pm1a

Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici (Bgt) is a globally important fungal pathogen of wheat that can rapidly evolve to defeat wheat powdery mildew (Pm) resistance genes. Despite periodic regional deployment of the Pm1a resistance gene in US wheat production, Bgt strains that overcome Pm1a have been notably nonpersistent in the United States, while on other continents, they are more widely established. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) was conducted to map sequence variants associated with Pm1a virulence in 216 Bgt isolates from six countries, including the United States. A virulence variant apparently unique to Bgt isolates from the United States was detected in the previously mapped gene AvrPm1a (BgtE-5612) on Bgt chromosome 6; an in vitro growth assay suggested no fitness reduction associated with this variant. A gene on Bgt chromosome 8, Bgt-51526, was shown to function as a second determinant of Pm1a virulence, and despite < 30% amino acid identity, BGT-51526 and BGTE-5612 were predicted to share > 85% of their secondary structure. A co-expression study in Nicotiana benthamiana showed that BGTE-5612 and BGT-51526 each produce a PM1A-dependent hypersensitive response. More than one member of a B. graminis effector family can be recognized by a single wheat immune receptor, and a two-gene model is necessary to explain virulence to Pm1a.

Virulence Variability and Genetic Diversity in Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei in Southeastern and Southwestern China

Powdery mildew is a key airborne foliar disease of barley in southeastern and southwestern China. Barley varieties usually partially or wholly lose resistance to the pathogen Blumeria graminis (DC.) f. sp. hordei 3 to 5 years after release due to the frequent acquirements of new virulences in the pathogen population. However, no B. graminis f. sp. hordei virulence detection has been carried out in the recent decade and, thus, no information is available on the present virulence components and major pathotypes in epidemic regions. Twenty-one near-isogenic lines of Pallas were selected to detect B. graminis f. sp. hordei virulence variation, with 97 pathotypes identified from the isolates collected from 2015 to 2019. The virulence complexities ranged from 1 to 12, with 1.5 isolates on average assigned per pathotype, suggesting a natural trait of high pathotype diversity and low virulence complexity in the Chinese B. graminis f. sp. hordei populations. Eleven high-virulence pathotypes were detected in the traditional barley-growing regions in Yunnan and Zhejiang. Six virulent pathotypes to resistance gene mlo-5 were detected only in the two traditional epidemic regions, with a virulence frequency (VF) of 4.8% (7 of 147). Compared with the results from a decade ago, VFs for resistance alleles Mla3, mlo-5, Mla6 + Mla14, Mla7 + Mlk, Mlg + MlCP, and Mla13 + MlRu3 + MlaRu4 increased from 0 to 0.7 to 25.8%. Isolates from Yunnan and Zhejiang had similar virulence profiles, which differed from those identified in Tibet. In addition, genetic diversities differed in the isolate groups collected from Tibet, Yunnan, and Zhejiang.

Virulence characteristics of Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici and its genetic diversity by EST-SSR analyses

Wheat powdery mildew, caused by Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici (an obligate biotrophic pathogen) is a worldwide threat to wheat production that occurs over a wide geographic area in China. For monitoring genetic variation and virulence structure of Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici in Liaoning, Heilongjiang, and Sichuan in 2015, 31 wheat lines with known Powdery mildew resistance genes and 2 EST-SSR markers were used to characterize the virulence and genetic diversity. Results indicated that 90% of all isolates were virulent on Pm3c, Pm3e, Pm3f, Pm4a, Pm5, Pm6 (Timgalen), Pm7, Pm16, Pm19, and Pm1 + 2 + 9 and 62.6% to 89.9% of isolates were virulent on Pm3a, Pm3b, Pm3d, Pm4b, Pm6 (Coker747), Pm8, Pm17, Pm20, Pm23, Pm30, Pm4 + 8, Pm5 + 6, Pm4b + mli, Pm2 + mld, Pm4 + 2X, Pm2 + 6. The Pm13 and PmXBD genes were effective against most collected isolates from Liaoning and Heilongjiang Provinces. Only Pm21 exhibited an immune infection response to all isolates. Furthermore, closely related isolates within each region were distinguished by cluster analyses using EST-SSR representing some gene exchanges and genetic relationships between the flora in Northeast China (Liaoning, Heilongjiang) and Sichuan. Only 45% of the isolates tested show a clear correlation between EST-SSR genetic polymorphisms and the frequency of virulence gene data. However, the EST-SSR polymorphism of isolated genes did not correspond to the virulence diversity of isolates in the single-gene lineage identification of hosts.

Virulence Structure of Blumeria graminis f. sp. avenae Populations in Poland across 2014-2015

The purpose of this study was to determine the virulence structure of oat powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis f. sp. avenae, Bga) populations in Poland collected in 2014 and 2015. Powdery mildew isolates were collected from 18 locations in Poland. In total, nine lines and cultivars of oat, with different mildew resistance genes, were used to assess virulence of 180 isolates. The results showed that a significant proportion of the Bga isolates found in Poland were virulent to differentials with Pm1, Pm3, Pm6, and Pm3 + Pm8 genes. In contrast Pm4, Pm5, Pm2, and Pm7 genes were classified as resistant to all pathogen isolates used in the experiment. Based on obtained results we can state that there are differences in virulence pattern and diversity parameters between sites and years, but clear trends are not deducible.