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ARS Home » Midwest Area » St. Paul, Minnesota » Cereal Disease Lab » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #203461
Title: POPULATION GENETICS OF THE WHEAT LEAF RUST FUNGUS, PUCCINIA TRITICINA IN CENTRAL ASIA

Author
item Kolmer, James
item GRABOWSKI, MICHELLE - FORMER ARS EMPLOYEE

Submitted to: Phytopathology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/2/2006
Publication Date: 4/2/2006
Citation: Kolmer, J.A., Grabowski, M.A. 2006. Population genetics of the wheat leaf rust fungus, Puccinia triticina in Central Asia. Phytopathology. 96:562

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Wheat leaf rust, caused by Puccinia triticina, is a major disease of wheat in Central Asia. Single uredinial isolates from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan, 131 in total, were tested for virulence to 20 isolines of Thatcher wheat with single leaf rust resistance genes. Simple sequence repeat (SSR) genotypes of 56 isolates were determined with 23 primer pairs that amplified 93 polymorphic alleles. Isolates (17 total) from the U.S. were also included for comparison. The isolates from Central Asia clustered into 2 groups at 62% similarity, based on virulence/avirulence to genes Lr1 and Lr2a. Allelic variation at SSR loci also grouped the isolates based on virulence/avirulence to genes Lr1 and Lr2a at 64% similarity, with a correlation of 58% between the virulence and SSR distance matrices. Measures of population differentiation (Fst, Rst) indicated that the populations from Azerbaijan–Kazakhstan; Tajikistan-Kazakhstan; and Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan varied significantly for SSR allelic frequencies. Isolates from the U.S. clustered in different groups for virulence and SSR genotypes, and varied significantly for SSR allelic frequencies from the populations in Central Asia.