Resistance to eyespot of wheat, caused by Tapesia yallundae, derived from Thinopyrum intermedium homoeologous group 4 chromosome

Thinopyrum intermedium was identified previously as resistant to Tapesia yallundae, cause of eyespot of wheat. Using GUS-transformed isolates of T. yallundae as inoculum, we determined that wheat lines carrying Th. intermedium chromosome 4Ai#2 or the short arm of chromosome 4Ai#2 were as resistant to the pathogen as the eyespot-resistant wheat- Th. ponticum chromosome substitution line SS767 (PI 611939) and winter wheat cultivar Madsen, which carries gene Pch1 for eyespot resistance. Chromosome 4E from Th. elongatum and chromosome 4J from Th. bessarabicum did not confer resistance to T. yallundae. Genome-specific PCR primers confirmed the presence of Thinopyrum chromatin in these wheat- Thinopyrum lines. Genomic in situ hybridization using an St genomic probe from Pseudoroegneria strigosa demonstrated that chromosome 4Ai#2 belongs to the J(s) genome of Thinopyrum. The eyespot resistance in the wheat- Th. intermedium lines is thus controlled by the short arm of this J(s) chromosome. This is the first report of resistance to T. yallundae controlled by a J(s) genome chromosome of Th. intermedium.