Abstract
Leaf rust, a devastating fungal disease caused by Puccinia triticina (Pt), severely impacts wheat quality and yield. Identifying genetic loci for wheat leaf rust resistance, developing molecular markers, and breeding resistant varieties is the most environmentally friendly and economical strategy for disease control. This study utilized a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population of Doumai and Shi4185, combined with the wheat 90 K single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) chip data and maximum disease severity (MDS) of leaf rust from four environments, to identify adult plant resistance (APR) loci through linkage mapping. Additionally, kompetitive allele-specific PCR (KASP) markers suitable for breeding were developed, and genetic effects were validated in a natural population. In this study, 5 quantitative trait loci (QTL) on chromosomes 1B (2), 2A and 7B (2) were identified through inclusive composite interval mapping, and named as QLr.lfnu-1BL1, QLr.lfnu-1BL2, QLr.lfnu-2AL, QLr.lfnu-7BL1 and QLr.lfnu-7BL2, respectively, explaining 4.54-8.91% of the phenotypic variances. The resistance alleles of QLr.lfnu-1BL1 and QLr.lfnu-1BL2 originated from Doumai, while the resistance alleles of QLr.lfnu-2AL, QLr.lfnu-7BL1 and QLr.lfnu-7BL2 came from Shi4185. Among these, QLr.lfnu-1BL2, QLr.lfnu-7BL1 and QLr.lfnu-7BL2 overlapped with previously reported loci, whereas QLr.lfnu-1BL1 and QLr.lfnu-2AL are likely to be novel. Two KASP markers, QLr.lfnu-2AL and QLr.lfnu-7BL, were significantly associated with leaf rust resistance in a diverse panel of 150 wheat varieties mainly from China. Totally, 34 potential candidate genes encoded the NLR proteins, receptor-like kinases, signaling kinases and transcription factors were selected as candidate genes for the resistance loci. These findings will provide stable QTL, available breeding KASP markers and candidate genes, and will accelerate the progresses of wheat leaf rust resistance improvement through marker-assisted selection breeding.