Identification of an Elite Wheat-Rye T1RS.1BL Translocation Line Conferring High Resistance to Powdery Mildew and Stripe Rust

Wheat-rye T1RS.1BL translocations have been widely used worldwide in wheat production for multiple disease resistance and superior yield traits. However, many T1RS.1BL translocations have successively lost their resistance to pathogens due to the coevolution of pathogen virulence with host resistance. Because of the extensive variation in rye (Secale cereale L.) as a naturally cross-pollinating relative of wheat, it still has promise to widen the variation of 1RS and to fully realize its application value in wheat improvement. In the present study, the wheat-rye breeding line R2207 was characterized by comprehensive analyses using genomic in situ hybridization (GISH), multicolor fluorescence in situ hybridization with multiple probes, multicolor GISH, and molecular marker analysis, and then was proven to be a cytogenetically stable wheat-rye T1RS.1BL translocation line. Based on the disease responses to different isolates of powdery mildew and genetic analysis, R2207 appears to possess a novel variation for resistance, which was confirmed to be located on the rye chromosome arm 1RS. Line R2207 also exhibited high levels of resistance to stripe rust at both seedling and adult stages, as well as enhanced agronomic performance, so it has been transferred into a large number of commercial cultivars using an efficient 1RS-specific kompetitive allele specific PCR marker for marker-assisted selection.