Identification of novel sources and genetic mapping for Bacterial Leaf Streak resistance in a geographically diverse panel of wheat

Bacterial leaf streak (BLS), caused by Xanthomonas translucens pv. undulosa (Xtu), has recently emerged as a significant threat to wheat production in the Northern Great Plains region of the US. Deploying resistant cultivars is an economical and practical method of controlling BLS. To identify novel sources of BLS resistance, we screened a set of 355 bread wheat landraces and cultivars representing global diversity for their response to BLS. A wide distribution of seedling responses against BLS was observed, with most genotypes displaying a moderately to highly susceptible response. Notably, we identified 5 resistant and 33 moderately resistant responses. A high-resolution genome-wide association study (GWAS) using 302,524 high-quality single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) identified ten significant marker-trait associations (MTAs) on chromosomes 1A, 1D, 3B, 4A, and 5A, corresponding to unique genomic regions associated with BLS resistance. Compared to previous studies, four of these genomic regions are likely novel. Of these, MTA ‘scaffold15531_2782724’ associated with q5A.1 was highly significant (-log10P = 9.39) and exhibited the highest SNP effect (0.35). An association on chromosome 3B validated a previously identified 3B QTL mapped at ~6 Mbp in the hard red spring wheat cultivar ‘Boost’, and the high-resolution mapping from our study further refined the interval for this QTL. Furthermore, the narrow haplotype blocks reported in this study could be valuable for fine mapping of important regions. The novel resistant sources along with identified genomic loci and corresponding SNP markers from this study, would be helpful for wheat breeding programs to enhance BLS resistance.