Author(s)

Seyed Taha Dadrezaei, Kumarse Nazari, Farzad Afshari, Ebrahim Mohammadi Goltapeh

College of Agriculture, TarbiatModares University, Tehran, Iran;.
International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Aleppo, Syria..
Seed and Plant Improvement Institute (SPII), Karaj, Iran;.

Lr₃₄ is a vital gene in developing resistance to leaf rust, stripe rust, and powdery mildew of wheat. Providing simultaneous resistance to various pathogens has made this gene valuable in breeding for wheat resistance to many diseases. The present study investigates the csLV34 marker’s capability in diagnosing this locus in130 wheat commercial cultivars and advanced wheat lines from Iran, and assesses the impact of this gene on disease severity in field conditions. To assess the reactions of cultivars and lines which contained Lr₃₄ under epidemic conditions of leaf rust, these cultivars were cultivated during the 2009 and 2010 cropping season. Of the 130 studied cultivars, 43 contained Lr₃₄. Cultivars that were selected and studied in stress conditions had the most frequent presence of Lr₃₄. It can be concluded that this gene plays a vital role in increasing the tolerance of cultivars under stress conditions. Lr₃₄ seems to cause active transition of materials out of the cell. In addition to being resistant to several important diseases of wheat, Lr₃₄ can increase tolerance to stresses such as salinity. Considering the calculated value for AUDPC (3%-440%/d) in cultivars containing Lr₃₄, it seems that some cultivars contained additional resistance genes. The rate of infection in all cultivars, when presence of Lr₃₄ was detected through the molecular marker, was lower than in other cultivars. Field results confirmed the results of the analysis using the csLV34b molecular marker.

Lr34 Gene; AUDPC; Salinity Stress; Leaf Rust; Puccinia triticina

S. Dadrezaei, K. Nazari, F. Afshari and E. Goltapeh, "Phenotypic and Molecular Characterization of Wheat Leaf Rust Resistance Gene Lr34 in Iranian Wheat Cultivars and Advanced Lines," American Journal of Plant Sciences, Vol. 4 No. 9, 2013, pp. 1821-1833. doi: 10.4236/ajps.2013.49224.