Isolation and characterization of a wheat – Psathyrostachys huashanica ‘Keng’ 3Ns disomic addition line with resistance to stripe rust

We isolated a wheat germplasm line, 22-2, which was derived from common wheat (Triticum aestivum ‘7182’) and Psathyrostachys huashanica ‘Keng’ (2n = 2x = 14, NsNs). Genomic composition and homoeologous relationships of 22-2 was analyzed using cytology, genomic in situ hybridization (GISH), EST–SSR, and EST–STS to characterize the alien chromatin in the transfer line. The cytological investigations showed that the chromosome number and configuration were 2n = 44 = 22 II. Mitotic and meiotic GISH using P. huashanica genomic DNA as the probe indicated that 22-2 contained a pair of P. huashanica chromosomes. The genomic affinities of the introduced P. huashanica chromosomes were determined by EST–SSR and EST–STS using multiple-loci markers from seven wheat homoeologous groups between the parents and addition line. One EST–SSR and 17 EST–STS markers, which were located on the homoeologous group 3 chromosomes of wheat, amplified polymorphic bands in 22-2 that were unique to P. huashanica. Thus, these markers suggested that the introduced Ns chromosome pair belonged to homoeologous group 3, so we designated 22-2 as a 3Ns disomic addition line. Based on disease reaction to mixed races (CYR31, CYR32, and Shuiyuan14) of stripe rust in the adult stages, 22-2 was found to have high resistance to stripe rust, which was possibly derived from its P. huashanica parent. Consequently, the new disomic addition line 22-2 could be a valuable donor source for wheat improvement depending on the excellent agronomic traits, especially, the introduction of novel disease resistance genes into wheat during breeding programs.