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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fargo, North Dakota » Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center » Sunflower and Plant Biology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #311115
Title: Chromosome engineering, mapping, and transferring of resistance to Fusarium head blight disease from Elymus tsukushiensis into wheat

Author
item CAINONG, JOEY - Kansas State University
item BOCKUS, WILLIAM - Kansas State University
item FENG, YIGAO - Nanjing Agricultural University
item CHEN, PEIDU - Nanjing Agricultural University
item Qi, Lili
item SEHGAL, SUNISH - South Dakota State University
item DANILOVA, TATIANA - Kansas State University
item KOO, DAL-HOE - Kansas State University
item FRIEBE, BERND - Kansas State University
item GILL, BIKRAM - Kansas State University

Submitted to: Theoretical and Applied Genetics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/13/2015
Publication Date: 6/1/2015
Citation: Cainong, J.C., Bockus, W.W., Feng, Y., Chen, P., Qi, L., Sehgal, S.K., Danilova, T.V., Koo, D., Friebe, B., Gill, B.S. 2015. Chromosome engineering, mapping, and transferring of resistance to Fusarium head blight disease from Elymus tsukushiensis into wheat. Theoretical and Applied Genetics. 128(6):1019-1027. DOI:10.10.1007/S00122-015-2485-1.

Interpretive Summary: Fusarium head blight (FHB) caused by the fungus Fusarium graminearum Schwabe is a devastating disease of bread wheat worldwide. FHB infection not only leads to reduced grain yield but also reduced quality because the grains are contaminated with the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON). Host plant resistance is the most effective method of FHB control. Wheat has limited resistance to FHB controlled by many loci and new sources of resistance are urgently needed. The perennial grass Elymus tsukushiensis thrives in the warm and humid regions of China and Japan and is immune to FHB. Here we report the transfer and mapping of a major gene Fhb6 from E. tsukushiensis to wheat. Fhb6 was mapped to the upper end of the short arm of chromosome 1Ets#1S of E. tsukushiensis. Chromosome engineering was used to replace corresponding similar region of chromosome 1AS of wheat with the Fhb6 associated chromatin derived from 1Ets#1S of E. tsukushiensis. Fhb6 appears to be new locus for wheat as previous studies have not detected any FHB resistance QTL in this chromosome region. Plant progenies homozygous for Fhb6 had a disease severity rating of 7% compared to 35% for the progenies absent this gene. Fhb6 has been tagged with molecular markers for marker assisted breeding and pyramiding of resistance loci for effective control of FHB.

Technical Abstract: Climate change and wheat corn rotation agriculture have spawned massive epidemics of Fusarium head blight (FHB) on cereal crops mainly wheat and barley since the 1990’s and devastated farm economies of north central US and many of the major wheat growing regions of the world. Wheat has limited resistance to FHB controlled by many loci and new sources of resistance are urgently needed. The perennial grass Elymus tsukushiensis thrives in the warm and humid regions of China and Japan and is immune to FHB. Here we report the transfer and mapping of a major gene Fhb6 from E. tsukushiensis to wheat. Fhb6 was mapped to the subterminal region in the short arm of chromosome 1Ets#1S of E. tsukushiensis. Chromosome engineering was used to replace corresponding homoeologous region of chromosome 1AS of wheat with the Fhb6 associated chromatin derived from 1Ets#1S of E. tsukushiensis. Fhb6 appears to be new locus for wheat as previous studies have not detected any FHB resistance QTL in this chromosome region. Plant progenies homozygous for Fhb6 had a disease severity rating of 7% compared to 35% for the null progenies. Fhb6 has been tagged with molecular markers for marker assisted breeding and pyramiding of resistance loci for effective control of FHB.