A spontaneous wheat-Aegilops longissima translocation carrying Pm66 confers resistance to powdery mildew

Key message A spontaneous Robertsonian T4S(l)S center dot 4BL translocation chromosome carrying Pm66 for powdery mildew resistance was discovered and confirmed by RNA-seq, molecular marker, and in situ hybridization analyses. Powdery mildew caused by Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici (Bgt) is a severe disease of bread wheat worldwide. Discovery and utilization of resistance genes to powdery mildew from wild relatives of wheat have played important roles in wheat improvement. Aegilops longissima, one of the S-genome diploid wild relatives of wheat, is a valuable source of disease and pest resistance for wheat. Chromosome 4S(l) from Ae. longissima confers moderate resistance to powdery mildew. In this study, we conducted RNA-seq on a putative Chinese Spring (CS)-Ae. longissima 4S(l)(4B) disomic substitution line (TA3465) to develop 4S(l)-specific markers to assist the transfer of a Bgt resistance gene from 4S(l) by induced homoeologous recombination. A pairwise comparison of genes between CS and TA3465 demonstrated that a number of genes on chromosome 4BS in CS were not expressed in TA3465. Analysis of 4B- and 4S(l)-specific molecular markers showed that 4BS and 4S(l)L were both missing in TA3465, whereas 4BL and 4S(l)S were present. Further characterization by genomic and fluorescent in situ hybridization confirmed that TA3465 carried a spontaneous Robertsonian T4S(l)S center dot 4BL translocation. Powdery mildew tests showed that TA3465 was resistant to 10 of 16 Bgt isolates collected from different regions of China, whereas CS was susceptible to all those Bgt isolates. The powdery mildew resistance gene(s) in TA3465 was further mapped to the short arm of 4S(l) and designated as Pm66.