Mapping quantitative powdery mildew resistance of barley using a restriction fragment length polymorphism map

Abstract

To map the genes underlying the quantitative resistance (QR) of the spring barley cultivars Proctor and Nudinka to powdery mildew, the relative pustule number of F1-derived doubled haploids (DHs) was determined and combined with the restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) mapping data of these DHs via MAPMAKER/QTL. Applying a log-likelihood (LOD) threshold of 2.50, two putative quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were found in two different genome areas that accounted for 19.8% of the observed variance. One of the QR-related RFLPs (Xcnl.CDO36) is located on chromosome 1S, the other one (Xcnl.CDO749) is tightly linked with the nucleolus organizer region on chromosome 7. By comparing the means of subpopulations of DHs carrying alternative parental marker alleles, it was found that both RFLPs were also linked with some genes causing thousand kernel weight differences in this population. For the QR trait measured, LOD scores < 1.00 were found for the Mla12 region on chromosome 5S indicating that the Mla12 virulent isolate used neutralized this major resistance gene and that no residual effect of that locus occurred.Key words: barley, powdery mildew, restriction fragment length polymorphism, quantitative trait loci.