Wheat powdery mildew, caused by Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici (Bgt), is a destructive disease seriously threatening yield and quality of common wheat (Triticum aestivum L., 2n=6x=42, AABBDD). Characterization of resistance genes against powdery mildew is useful in parental selection and for developing disease resistant cultivars. Chinese wheat breeding line KN0816 has superior agronomic performance and resistance to powdery mildew at all growth stages. Genetic analysis using populations of KN0816 crossed with different susceptible parents indicated that a single dominant gene, tentatively designated PmKN0816, conferred seedling resistance to different Bgt isolates. Using a bulked segregant analysis (BSA), PmKN0816 was mapped to the Pm6 interval on chromosome arm 2BL using polymorphic markers linked to the catalogued genes Pm6, Pm52, and Pm64, and flanked by markers CISSR02g-6 and CIT02g-2 both with genetic distances of 0.7 cM. Analysis of closely linked molecular markers indicated that the marker alleles of PmKN0816 differed from those of other powdery mildew resistance genes on 2BL, including Pm6, Pm33, Pm51, Pm64, and PmQ. Based on the genetic and physical locations and response pattern to different Bgt isolates, PmKN0816 is most likely a new powdery mildew resistance gene and confers effective resistance to all the 14 tested Bgt isolates. In view of the elite agronomic performance of KN0816 combined with the resistance, PmKN0816 is expected to become a valuable resistance gene in wheat breeding. To transfer PmKN0816 to different genetic backgrounds using marker-assisted selection (MAS), closely linked markers of PmKN0816 were evaluated and four of them (CIT02g-2, CISSR02g-6, CIT02g-10, and CIT02g-17) were confirmed to be applicable for MAS in different genetic backgrounds.
Characterization of the Powdery Mildew Resistance Gene in the Elite Wheat Cultivar Jimai 23 and Its Application in Marker-Assisted Selection
