QTL mapping for seedling and adult plant resistance to stripe and leaf rust in two winter wheat populations

The two recombinant inbred lines (RIL) populations developed by crossing
Almaly × Avocet S (206 RILs) and Almaly × Anza (162 RILs) were used to
detect the novel genomic regions associated with adult plant resistance
(APR) and seedling or all-stage resistance (ASR) to yellow rust (YR) and
leaf rust (LR). Both the populations were evaluated for YR APR in two
environments (2018 and 2019) and LR APR in three environments (2018, 2019,
and 2020) in the Anza population and two environments (2018 and 2019) in
the Avocet population; both the populations were phenotyped for one
environment during 2020 for LR and YR ASR and genotyped using high
throughput DArTseq technology. A set of 51 QTLs including 22 for YR APR,
nine for LR APR, nine for YR ASR, and 11 for LR ASR were identified. Also,
a set of 13 stable QTLs including nine QTLs (QYR-APR-2A.1, QYR-APR-2A.2,
QYR-APR-4D.2, QYR-APR-1B, QYR-APR-2B.1, QYR-APR-2B.2, QYR-APR-3D,
QYR-APR-4D.1, and QYR-APR-4D.2) for YR APR and four QTLs (QLR-APR-4A,
QLR-APR-2B, QLR-APR-3B, and QLR-APR-5A.2) for LR APR were identified. In
silico analysis revealed that the key putative candidate genes such as
Cytochrome P450, Protein kinase-like domain superfamily, Zinc-binding
ribosomal protein, SANT/Myb domain, WRKY transcription factor,
Nucleotide-sugar transporter, and NAC domain superfamily were in
the QTL regions and involved in the regulation of host response towards
the pathogen infection. The stable QTLs identified in this study are
useful for developing rust-resistant varieties through marker-assisted
selection (MAS).