Mapping of quantitative-trait loci (QTL) for adult-plant resistance to Septoria tritici in five wheat populations (Triticum aestivum L.)

Septoria tritici blotch (STB), caused by Septoria tritici (teleomorph Mycosphaerella graminicola), is one of the most important diseases in wheat varieties worldwide, responsible for severe damage of the leaves causing yield losses between 30 and 40 %. Control of STB includes crop rotation, soil tillage, fungicide application, and cultivation of resistant varieties. Profit-making wheat growers are forced to apply narrow crop rotations under reduced tillage. Some fungicides including widely-used strobilurins are no longer effective due to mutations in the highly variable pathogen population of S. tritici. Therefore, resistance breeding using genetic mapping to identify quantitative-trait loci (QTL) associated with STB resistance provides a promising strategy for controlling the disease.\nThe main goal of this study was to detect chromosomal regions for quantitative adult-plant resistance of winter wheat to STB. Besides this, we analyzed the genetic diversity of 24 European varieties after inoculation with four different isolates of S. tritici. Multienvironmental field trials inoculated with S. tritici were applied to test isolates and varieties and to phenotype mapping populations. In detail, the objectives were to (1) compare natural infection and inoculation, (2) evaluate genotypic variation of adult-plant resistance to STB in European varieties, (3) analyze genotype x environment (G x E) interaction, (4) evaluate and analyze phenotypic data including STB severity, heading date (HED), and plant height (PLH) of five mapping populations, (5) construct genetic linkage maps of these populations using AFLP, DArT, and SSR markers, (6) determine number, positions, and genetic effects of QTL for evaluated traits, and (7) reveal QTL regions for multiple-disease resistance within mapping populations using QTL meta-analysis.\nIn all trials, inoculation with one to four preselected isolates was performed and STB severity was visually scored plotwise as percentage coverage of flag leaves with lesions bearing pycnidia. 24 winter wheat varieties were chosen with maximal differentiation in resistance to STB and evaluated across three years including nine environments. Five mapping populations, Florett/Biscay, Tuareg/Biscay, History/Rubens, Arina/Forno, and Solitär/Bussard, each comprising a cross of a resistant and a susceptible variety, with population sizes ranging from 81 to 316, were phenotyped across four to six environments. In parallel, 221 to 491 polymorphic genetic markers were assigned to linkage groups covering 1,314 to 3,305 cM of the genome. Based on these linkage maps, the number, positions, and genetic effects of QTL could be determined by composite interval mapping. Furthermore, raw data of different experiments evaluated for resistance to two other pathogens, Fusarium head blight and Stagnospora glume blotch, were used to reveal multiple-disease resistance QTL within Arina/Forno and History/Rubens populations by the software package PLABMQTL.\nResults of inoculated field trials coincided with not inoculated trials showing natural infection (r = 0.84 to 0.99, P &lt; 0.01), thus inoculation method was accurate to evaluate STB severity in the field. Genotypic variation between 24 varieties ranged from 8 % (Solitär) to 63 % (Rubens) flag leaf area infected. In the analysis of variance, genotypic variance had highest impact followed by G x E interaction (P &lt; 0.01). Therefore, environmental stability of varieties should be a major breeding goal. The varieties Solitär, History, and Florett were most stable, as revealed by a regression approach. In contrast, disease symptoms of Biscay ranged from 19 to 72 % within the three experimental years.\nPhenotypic data revealed significant (P &lt; 0.01) genotypic differentiation for STB, HED, and PLH within all five mapping populations and between the parents. Entry-mean heritabilities (h²) ranged from 0.69 to 0.87 for STB, the only exception was Tuareg/Biscay (h² = 0.38). For HED (h² = 0.78 to 0.93) and PLH (h² = 0.92 to 0.98) heritabilities were high. All correlations between STB and HED (r = -0.18 to -0.33) as well as between STB and PLH (r = -0.13 to -0.45) were negative and moderate. The exception was History/Rubens which is segregating at the Rht-D1 locus showing considerably higher correlation between STB and PLH (r = -0.55, P &lt; 0.01). The five mapping populations showed a wide and continuous distribution of mean STB severity averaged across three to six environments in field trials at adult-plant stage.\nIn QTL analysis, one to nine, zero to nine, and four to eleven QTL were detected for STB, HED, and PLH, respectively, across five wheat populations using composite interval mapping. One to two major QTL for resistance to STB were detected consistently across environments in each population (QStb.lsa_fb-3B, QStb.lsa_fb-6D, QStb.lsa_tb-4B, QStb.lsa_tb-6B, QStb.lsa_hr-4D, QStb.lsa_hr-5B.1, QStb.lsa_af-3B, QStb.lsa_bs-7A) explaining more than 10 % of normalized adjusted phenotypic variance. Altogether, resistance QTL explained 14 to 55 % of adjusted phenotypic variance. Both parents contributed resistant alleles. Major QTL, however, were all from the resistant parent.\nQTL meta-analysis revealed each of four loci for multiple-disease resistance located on chromosomes 3B, 4B, 5B, and 6D in Arina/Forno, and on chromosomes 2B, 4D, 5B, and 7B in History/Rubens. The most effective meta QTL was on chromosome 4D in History/Rubens closely linked to Rht-D1. The resistance allele from History reduced disease severity by 9.8 % for STB and 6.3 % for FHB, thus explaining 47 % and 60 % of partial phenotypic variance.\nIn general, European wheat varieties showed a wide range of genotypic variation for STB resistance useful for breeding. Although the influence of environment and G x E interaction was high, some resistant varieties which were stable across multiple environments were found (Solitär, History, Florett). Genomic regions associated with STB resistance were mapped across 13 out of 21 wheat chromosomes. Together with the continuous distribution of five segregating populations for flag leaf infection, it can be concluded that the adult-plant resistance to S. tritici was inherited quantitatively depending on several loci explaining part of phenotypic variance. QTL meta-analysis across three severe pathogens, including Fusarium head blight, Stagnospora glume blotch, and STB, within two populations revealed eight loci for multiple-disease resistance with closely linked markers applicable in resistance breeding. Combining detected major QTL as well as meta QTL in present breeding material by applying marker-assisted selection seems a promising approach to the breeding of varieties with improved resistance to Septoria tritici blotch, Fusarium head blight, and Stagnospora glume blotch.

Topic: Wheat and Barley Genetics and Pathology
Subfield: Plant Science
Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences
Domain: Life Sciences