Combined use of linked markers for genotyping the Pm1 locus in common wheat

Genotyping of 98 wheat cultivars/lines was carried out with molecular markers that are linked to the Pm1 locus: two bi-allelic (dominant) markers: the sequence-tagged site Xsts638-7A and the amplified fragment length polymorphism XE39M58-77-7A; and the multi-allelic simple sequence repeat marker Xgwm344-7A. Employing segregation data recorded in the population Chinese Spring x Virest (Pm1e), genetic mapping revealed that Xgwm344-7A and XE39M58-77-7A were distally linked to Pm1e in the repulsion phase with respective linkage distances of 0.9 cM and 4.8 cM, while Xsts638-7A was found to co-segregate with Pm1e in the coupling phase. The genotyping results of Xsts638-7A and XE39M58-77-7A confirmed disease scoring, except for the accessions of cultivars Omega, Remus and Weihenstephan Stamm M1N. The SSR marker Xgwm344 amplified 15 different fragments ranging from 102 bp to 147 bp, with 15 entries being null-allelic at the 7A and 7B homoeoloci. It was found that wheat lines having resistance alleles at the Pm1 locus mainly show the null allele at the Xgwm344-7A locus. Due to their fast-evolving nature, the use of multi-allelic SSRs for genotype determination may be complicated. However, the combined use of multiple linked marker alleles seems to be a promising approach for genotyping a broad range of plant materials.