Meta-QTLs and candidate genes for stripe rust resistance in wheat.

In bread wheat, meta-QTL analysis was conducted using 353 QTLs that were available from earlier studies. When projected onto a dense consensus map comprising 76,753 markers, only 184 QTLs with the required information, could be utilized leading to identification of 61 MQTLs spread over 18 of the 21 chromosomes (barring 5D, 6D and 7D). The range for mean R (PVE %) was 1.9% to 48.1%, and that of CI was 0.02 to 11.47 cM; these CIs also carried 37 Yr genes. Using these MQTLs, 385 candidate genes (CGs) were also identified. Out of these CGs, 241 encoded known R proteins and 120 showed differential expression due to stripe rust infection at the seedling stage; the remaining 24 CGs were common in the sense that they encoded R proteins as well as showed differential expression. The proteins encoded by CGs carried the following widely known domains: NBS-LRR domain, WRKY domains, ankyrin repeat domains, sugar transport domains, etc. Thirteen breeders' MQTLs (PVE > 20%) including four pairs of closely linked MQTLs are recommended for use in wheat molecular breeding, for future studies to understand the molecular mechanism of stripe rust resistance and for gene cloning.