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. 2025 Jun 12;11(6):447.
doi: 10.3390/jof11060447.

Virulence Characterization of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici in China in 2020 Using Wheat Yr Single-Gene Lines

Jie Huang  1   2 , Xingzong Zhang  1   3 , Wenjing Tan  1 , Yi Wu  1 , Hai Xu  1 , Shuwaner Wang  1 , Sajid Mehmood  4 , Xinli Zhou  1 , Suizhuang Yang  1 , Meinan Wang  5 , Xianming Chen  5   6 , Wanquan Chen  3 , Taiguo Liu  3 , Xin Li  1 , Chongjing Xia  1   3
Affiliations

Virulence Characterization of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici in China in 2020 Using Wheat Yr Single-Gene Lines

Jie Huang et al. J Fungi (Basel). .

Abstract

Wheat stripe (yellow) rust, caused by the fungus Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), is one of the most threatening wheat diseases worldwide. Monitoring the virulence of Pst population is essential for managing wheat stripe rust. In this study, 18 wheat Yr single-gene lines were used to identify the virulence patterns of 67 isolates collected from 13 provinces in China in 2020, from which 33 Pst races were identified. The frequency of virulence to different Yr genes varied from 1.49% to 97.01%, with 4.48% to Yr1, 26.87% to Yr6, 11.94% to Yr7, 95.52% to Yr8, 19.40% to Yr9, 11.94% to Yr17, 2.99% to Yr24, 35.82% to Yr27, 38.81% to Yr43, 97.01% to Yr44, 8.96% to YrSP, 1.49% to Yr85, 95.52% to YrExp2, and 7.46% to Yr76. None of the isolates were virulent to Yr5, Yr10, Yr15, and Yr32. Among the 33 races, PstCN-062 (with virulence to Yr8, Yr44, and YrExp2) and PstCN-001 (with virulence to Yr8, Yr43, Yr44, and YrExp2) were the prevalent races, with frequencies of 28.36% and 11.94%, respectively. These results provide valuable information for breeding resistant wheat cultivars for controlling stripe rust.

Keywords: Triticum aestivum; pathogen; race identification; resistance genes; stripe rust; virulence diversity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Map showing the locations and numbers of stripe rust (caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici) samples collected from 13 provinces in 2020 in China. The number of isolates in each province is shown in parenthesis and the red dots indicate the locations. The 13 provinces are HE: Hebei, HA: Henan, SX: Shanxi, SN: Shaanxi, SC: Sichuan, GS: Gansu, AH: Anhui, JS: Jiangsu, GZ: Guizhou, HB: Hubei, YN: Yunnan, CQ: Chongqing, and NM: Inner Mongolia.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Frequencies of virulence factors of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici isolates to the 18 Yr single-gene differentials in China in 2020.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Distributions of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici races with different numbers of virulence factors in 2020 and 2023.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The virulence frequencies of Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst) in China in 2020 and 2023.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Virulence relationships of 33 Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici races identified from the 2020 collection in China based on the avirulent/virulent data on the 18 Yr single-gene differentials using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic means and Nei’s genetic distance. VG = virulence group.
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