Intergeneric Transfer (Rye to Wheat) of a Gene(s) for Russian Wheat Aphid Resistance

An octoploid triticale was derived from the F, of a Russian wheat aphid-resistant rye, ‘Turkey 77’, and ‘Chinese Spring’ wheat. The alloploid was crossed to common wheat, and to ‘Imperial’ rye/‘Chinese Spring’ disomic addition lines. F₂, progeny from these crosses were tested for Russian wheat aphid resistance and C-banded. A resistance gene(s) was found to be associated with chromosome arm IRS of the ‘Turkey 77’ rye genome. A monotelosomic IRS (‘Turkey 77’) addition plant was then crossed with the wheat cultivar ‘Gamtoos’, which has the 1BL.1RS ‘Veery’ translocation. Unlike the IRS segment in ‘Gamtoos’, the ‘Turkey 77’-derived 1 RS telosome did not express the rust resistance genes Sr31 and Ar26, which could then be used as markers. From the F, a monotelosomic 1 RS addition plant that was also heterozygous for the 1BL. 1 RS translocation was selected and testerossed with an aphid-susceptible common wheat, ‘Inia 66’ Meiotic pairing between the rye arms resulted in the recovery of five euploid Russian-wheat-aphid-resistant plants. One recombinant also retained Sr31 and Lr26 and was selfed to produce translocation homozygotes.