Resistance to wheat leaf rust in Aegilops tauschii Coss. and inheritance of resistance in hexaploid wheat

A collection of 164 Aegilops tauschii accessions, obtained from Gatersleben, Germany, was screened for reaction to leaf rust under controlled greenhouse conditions. We have also evaluated a selection of synthetic hexaploid wheats, produced by hybridizing Ae. tauschii with tetraploid durum wheats, as well as the first and second generation of hybrids between some of these resistant synthetic hexaploid wheats and susceptible Triticum aestivum cultivars. Eighteen (11%) accessions of Ae. tauschii were resistant to leaf rust among which 1 was immune, 13 were highly resistant and 4 were moderately resistant. Six of the synthetic hexaploid wheats expressed a high level of leaf rust resistance while four exhibited either a reduced or complete susceptibility compared to their corresponding diploid parent. This suppression of resistance at the hexaploid level suggests the presence of suppressor genes in the A and/or B genomes of the T. turgidum parent. Inheritance of leaf rust resistance from the intercrosses with susceptible bread wheats revealed that resistance was dominant over susceptibility. Leaf rust resistance from the three synthetics (syn 101, syn 701 and syn 901) was effectively transmitted as a single dominant gene and one synthetic (syn 301) possessed two different dominant genes for resistance.