ITEMS FROM ESTONIA


INSTITUTE OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY

EE 3051 Harku, Estonia.

Alien chromatin detection and disease resistance gene identification in introgressive lines of common wheat.

K. Jarve, H. Peusha, M. Tohver, S. Tamm, L. Timofejeva, E. Tsimbalova, O. Priilinn, and T. Enno.

To improve disease resistance and increase the number of alien genes available for wheat breeding, the tetraploid wheat species T. timopheevii, T. militinae, and the F1 hybrid (T. militinae/T. timopheevii) were used in crosses with common wheat cultivars. Plants of the pentaploid, interspecific F1 hybrids were backcrossed to their common wheat parents for three generations to restore fertility. Backcross and advanced generations were screened for powdery mildew, E. graminis f. sp. tritici, resistance in the artificial provocative background. A number of derived lines with a resistant reaction to powdery mildew were identified and stabilized (Enno et al. 1995).

A genetic monosomic analysis of the introgressed line SMT 34, selected in the progeny of crosses between common wheat cultivar Saratovskaya 29 with the `T. militinae/T. timopheevii' F1, was used to locate the powdery mildew-resistance gene. On the basis of monosomic segregation, the lack of susceptible seedlings in the progeny of cross combination between Chinese Spring monosomic 4A and SMT 34 was highly significant (P < 0.01). The resistance gene located on chromosome 4A shows a dominant inheritance.

The dominant, powdery mildew-resistance gene Pml6 is reported to be located on chromosome 4A. This gene was introduced into hexaploid wheat from the wild emmer, T. dicoccoides (Reader and Miller 1991, Euphytica 53:57-60). Currently, the F1 hybrids between SMT 34 and the common wheat line with the Pml6 gene are growing, and further allelism tests on the progenies will be made.

Powdery mildew is a widespread disease of common wheat in Europe and in other regions where wheat is grown under cool temperate conditions. The use of resistance genes is the most effective way to combat the spread of this disease. The Italian common wheat cultivar `Virest' has mildew resistance that is different from the resistance reaction expressed by currently documented mildew resistance genes, which are detected by response to 11 differential wheat powdery mildew isolates. F2 populations from crosses between the Chinese Spring monosomic lines and Virest revealed one major, dominant gene located on wheat chromosome lD. The new gene is designated as Pm22 (Peusha et al. in press).

The study was made to characterize and identify the mildew resistance-genes in common wheat cultivars grown in Finland. Among the cultivars tested, seven showed susceptible response (Aura, HJA22/92, NGB212, NGB231, NGB341, Pitko, and Vakka) and eight cultivars (Apu, Hjan Ilves, Ilves, Luja, NGB347, Otso, Ruso, and Taava) had a susceptible and/or intermediate reaction or were heterogeneic, after inoculation with the 11 differential powdery mildew isolates. Seven cultivars (Tapio, Hjan Tapio, Manu, Runar, NGB43, Heta, and Hjan Ulla) were resistant to one or more isolates (Peusha et al. in press). This work with Italian and Finnish wheat cultivars is supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Bonn, Germany.

An introgressed line, resistant to leaf rust and powdery mildew and a derivative of `T. timopheevii (146-155)/T. timopheevii', and its parents were analyzed in order to isolate markers of T. timopheevii-genome origin in the resistant introgressed lines. Genomic probing, with blocking of the common sequences, discriminated between T. aestivum (line 146-155) and T. timopheevii genome-specific repetitive DNA sequences. The repetitive genome-specific markers were used further to isolate 100-1,000 kb PFGE-separated fragments of T. timopheevii origin in this hybrid line. Two repetitive DNA sequences, specific to T. timopheevii DNA, were cloned from the genome of the hybrid line `146-155/T. timopheevii'. We are looking for markers physically linked to the resistance genes using large restriction fragments of T. timopheevii origin from the hybrid DNA (separated by PAGE).

The synthesis of the wheat storage protein gliadin is known to be controlled by genes located on the chromosomes of homoeologous groups 1 and 6. We suggest that these may be suitable for identifying the location of disease resistance genes closely linked with genes controlling gliadin synthesis. Previous work based on C-banded chromosome analysis (Priilinn et al. 1994) concluded that resistance to the pathogen is conditioned by the presence of chromosome 6G(or a segment) of T. timopheevii in the 146-155 genome. The analysis of the gliadin fractions of 146-155, T. timopheevii, and `146-155/T. timopheevii' confirmed that the translocation on the lB chromosome does not include the Gli-B1 locus. Protein fractions, coded by the Gli-B2 locus on the short arm of chromosome 6B, revealed a substitution by T. timopheevii-gliadin alleles in the hybrid line.

Publications.

Enno T, Peusha H, Jarve K, Timofejeva L, Tsimbalova E, and Priilinn O. 1995. Introduction of alien genetic variation by means of interspecific hybridization. Proc 9th EWAC Conf Cereal aneuploids for genetical analysis and molecular techniques. Euphytica 65-67.

Peusha H, Hsam SLK, and Zeller FJ. 1996. Chromosomal location of powdery mildew resistance genes in common wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em. Thell.) 3. Gene Pm22 in cultivar Virest. Euphytica (In press).

Peusha H, Hsam SLK, Enno T, and Zeller FJ. 1996. Identification of powdery mildew resistance genes in common wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em. Thell.). VIII. Cultivars grown in Finland. Hereditas (In press).

Priilinn O, Enno T, Kuuts H, and Peusha H. 1996. Genetic resources for the adaptive breeding of wheat. J Agr Sci Estonia (In press).

Priilinn O, Peusha H, Jarve K, Timofeyeva L, Tsimbalova E, and Enno T. 1994. Use of alien genetic variation for wheat improvement. Ann Wheat Newslet 40:101-102.