Microsatellite marker identification of a Triticum aestivum Aegilops umbellulata substitution line with powdery mildew resistance

Aegilops umbellulata acc. Y39 and Triticum carthlicum acc. PS5, immune to many powdery mildew isolates, were crossed to make an amphidiploid line Am9. The powdery mildew resistance of Am9 was transferred to common wheat cultivar Laizhou953 by crossing and backcrossing. In this study, the origin of powdery mildew resistance in a BC3F4:5 population derived from a cross of Am9 and Laizhou953 was identified. Microsatellite markers analysis showed that markers Xgwm257, Xgwm296, and Xgwm319, co-segregated with the powdery mildew resistance, whereas markers Xgwm210, Xgwm388/140, Xgwm388/170 and Xgwm526 were related to susceptibility and linked to resistance in repulsion. Of three markers related to resistance, Xgwm257 and Xgwm319 were codominant, whereas Xgwm296 was dominant. All three markers were Ae. umbellulata-specific indicating that resistance in the test population originated from Ae. umbellulata acc. Y39. The chromosome location and mapping of these linked microsatellite markers, the chromosome numbers of derived BC3F4:6 families, and chromosome pairing in F-1 plants from a cross of a homozygous resistant BC3F4:5 plant and Laizhou953, showed that wheat chromosome 2B was substituted by Ae. umbellulata chromosome 2U. This is the first gene conferring powdery mildew resistance transferred to wheat from Ae. umbellulata, and it should be a novel resistance gene to powdery mildew. It was temporarily designated PmY39.