PJB-2024-431
Deploying genetic control of wheat leaf rust: a QTL-based approach for sustainable yield
Farhan Ullah, Shoukat Sajad, Salman Ata, Hafiz Umair Asdullah, Hafiz Husnain Nawaz, Sezai Ercisli and Usman Ali
Abstract
Leaf rust (caused by Puccinia recondita f. sp. tritici) is the most widespread and regularly occurring rust on wheat. In most parts of the world, wheat production is significantly threatened by leaf rust (LR). For sustainable yield, the most effective approach of disease control is the incorporation of resistance LR genes into superior wheat gene pool. Identifying and characterizing new sources of LR resistance are crucial. Although numerous significant, LR genes for qualitative resistance have been found in wheat. Along with this, more beneficial quantitative resistance sources are still being explored to combat LR. This review refers to 249 LR resistance QTL and covers studies reported from January 1971 to January 2024. Reviewing the QTLs for LR resistance found in bi-parental and association-mapping (AM) studies, we evaluate them in comparison with those found in a 2015 QTL meta-analysis (Vasistha et al., 2024). We have assessed the progress made in locating the molecular markers for the quantitative trait loci (QTL) with respect to adult plant resistance (APR) for LR, which were mostly found in field research. Over the last fifty years, resistance loci for LR were mapped to genomic locations using chromosomal analysis and genome sequencing in bi-parental mapping populations, studies that encompass seventy-nine different donor lines for LR resistance. Furthermore, associations between adult-plant and seedlings resistance marker trait for LR have been found in overall seven association mapping studies in over 4,000 wheat genotypes. All twenty-one chromosomes of hexaploid (6x) wheat have adult plant LR resistance QTLs, with B genome harboring the most QTLs. Additionally, LR resistance QTLs are notably prevalent on the group 2 chromosomes. The A genome has the fewest QTLs linked with resistance LR