Development and Characterization of Synthetic Hexaploid Wheat for Improving the Resistance of Common Wheat to Leaf Rust and Heat Stress

Abstract

Synthetic hexaploid wheat (SHW) is a valuable resource for breeding because it possesses more desirable traits, such as better yield and abiotic and biotic stress tolerance than common wheat. In this study, our group developed a SHW line, named ‘SynDT’, which has markedly better characteristics than Korean bread wheat ‘Keumkang’. The SynDT line is thermotolerant as it rapidly expresses heat shock proteins under heat stress. In addition, this line exhibits resistance to leaf rust by inducing the expression of antifungal enzymes, mainly chitinase, along with the rapid and high expression of pathogen-related genes. Moreover, it possesses the favorable traits of its parent wheat lines Triticum durum #24 and Aegilops tauschii #52. Therefore, the SynDT wheat line can be used as a breeding material for improving local common wheat cultivars.