An Aegilops ventricosa Translocation Confers Resistance Against Root-knot Nematodes to Common Wheat

Root knot nematodes (RKN; Meloidogyne spp.) cause severe losses worldwide to a wide range of crops. Crop rotations with resistant hosts can be used to control losses, but the wide host range of RKN limits this option. In this study, we found that the wheat cultivar Lassik is resistant to several isolates of the RKN species M. incognita and M. javanica, including those that can reproduce on tomato with the resistance gene Mi-1. Comparison of near-isogenic lines of wheat showed that the wheat resistance gene(s) is localized within a segment of the short arm of chromosome 2N from Aegilops ventricosa (Zhuk.) Chennav translocated into common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) chromosome arm 2AS and is associated with a highly significant decrease in RKN eggs in the roots. This RKN resistance gene has been assigned the name Rkn3. While wheat itself is tolerant of RKN infection, a microplot experiment coupled with tomato bioassays showed less RKN root galling in the tomato samples grown in soil from the previous microplots including RKN resistant wheat varieties than in those including a susceptible wheat isogenic line. This result suggests that rotation with Rkn3 resistant wheat cultivars has the potential to be a valuable component of nematode management for crops that are highly susceptible to nematode damage and for which alternative strategies are limited.