Development and molecular characterization of wheat-Aegilops peregrina Introgression Lines with resistance to leaf rust and stripe rust

Abstract

A wild non-progenitor species from wheat tertiary gene pool Aegilops peregrina accession pau3519 (UUSS) was used for introgression of leaf rust and stripe rust resistance in bread wheat. It was crossed and backcrossed with hexaploid wheat line Chinese Spring PhI to develop two homozygous BC2F6 wheat-Ae. peregrina introgression lines (ILs) viz. IL pau16058 and IL pau16061 through induced homoeologous recombination. Homozygous lines were screened against six Puccinia triticina and two Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici pathotypes at the seedling stage and a mixture of prevalent pathotypes of both rust pathogens at the adult plant stage. IL pau16061 showed resistance to leaf rust only while IL pau16058 was resistant to both leaf and stripe rust pathotypes throughout plant life. Molecular characterization of these ILs aided in defining the introgressed regions. Identification of linked markers with advance genomic technologies will aid in marker assisted pyramiding of alien genes in cultivated wheat background.