Isolation and fine mapping of Rps6: an intermediate host resistance gene in barley to wheat stripe rust

Andrew M. Dawson, John N. Ferguson, Matthew Gardiner, Phon Green, Amelia Hubbard, Matthew J. Moscou

We uncouple host and nonhost resistance in barley to Puccinia striiformis ff. spp. hordei and tritici . We isolate, fine map, and physically anchor Rps6 to chromosome 7H in barley. A plant may be considered a nonhost of a pathogen if all known genotypes of a plant species are resistant to all known isolates of a pathogen species. However, if a small number of genotypes are susceptible to some known isolates of a pathogen species this plant may be considered an intermediate host. Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is an intermediate host for Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), the causal agent of wheat stripe rust. We wanted to understand the genetic architecture underlying resistance to Pst and to determine whether any overlap exists with resistance to the host pathogen, Puccinia striiformis f. sp. hordei (Psh). We mapped Pst resistance to chromosome 7H and show that host and intermediate host resistance is genetically uncoupled. Therefore, we designate this resistance locus Rps6. We used phenotypic and genotypic selection on F2:3 families to isolate Rps6 and fine mapped the locus to a 0.1 cM region. Anchoring of the Rps6 locus to the barley physical map placed the region on a single fingerprinted contig spanning a physical region of 267 kb. Efforts are now underway to sequence the minimal tiling path and to delimit the physical region harboring Rps6. This will facilitate additional marker development and permit identification of candidate genes in the region.