Rapid cloning of disease resistance genes in wheat

Authors: RUNNING, KATHERINE - North Dakota State University; Faris, Justin

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/6/2023
Publication Date: 1/16/2024
Citation: Running, K., Faris, J.D. 2024. Rapid cloning of disease resistance genes in wheat. Book Chapter. P. 187-212. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38294-9_10.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38294-9_10

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Wheat is challenged by ever evolving pathogen populations, resulting in yield losses. Plants use innate immune systems involving the recognition of pathogen effectors and subsequent activation of defense responses to respond to pathogen infections. Understanding the genes, genetic networks, and mechanisms governing plant-pathogen interactions is key to the development of varieties with robust resistance whether it be through conventional breeding techniques coupled with marker selection, gene editing, or other novel strategies. The most useful targets for crop improvement are the plant genes responsible for pathogen effector recognition, referred to as resistance (R) or susceptibility (S) genes, because they govern the plant’s defense response. Historically, the molecular identification of R/S genes in wheat has been extremely difficult due to the large and repetitive nature of the wheat genome. However, recent advances in gene cloning methods that exploit reduced representation sequencing methods to reduce genome complexity have greatly expedited R/S gene cloning in wheat. Such rapid cloning methods referred to as MutRenSeq, AgRenSeq, k-mer GWAS, and MutChromSeq allow the identification of candidate genes without the development and screening of high-resolution mapping populations, which is a highly laborious step often required in traditional positional cloning methods. These new cloning methods coupled with an explosion of wheat genome assemblies due to advances in sequencing technologies, additional genomic resources such as TILLING populations, and advances in bioinformatics and data analysis, have revolutionized the gene cloning landscape for wheat. Today, 58 R/S genes have been identified with 42 of them having been identified in the past six years alone. Thus, wheat researchers now have the means to rapidly discover R/S genes, which paves the way for rapid R gene deployment or S gene elimination, manipulation through gene-editing, and understanding wheat-pathogen interactions at the molecular level to guard against crop losses due to pathogens and enhance global food security.