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Genetic and physical localization of an anthracnose resistance gene in Medicago truncatula

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Abstract

Anthracnose of alfalfa, caused by the fungal pathogen Colletotrichum trifolii, is one of the most destructive diseases of alfalfa worldwide. An improved understanding of the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying host resistance will facilitate the development of resistant alfalfa cultivars, thus providing the most efficient and environmentally sound strategy to control alfalfa diseases. Unfortunately, cultivated alfalfa has an intractable genetic system because of its tetrasomic inheritance and out-crossing nature. Nevertheless, the model legume Medicago truncatula, a close relative of alfalfa, has the potential to serve as a surrogate to map and clone the counterparts of agronomically important genes in alfalfa—particularly, disease resistance genes against economically important pathogens. Here we describe the high-resolution genetic and physical mapping of RCT1, a host resistance gene against C. trifolii race 1 in M. truncatula. We have delimited the RCT1 locus within a physical interval spanning ∼200 kb located on the top of M. truncatula linkage group 4. RCT1 is part of a complex locus containing numerous genes homologous to previously characterized TIR-NBS-LRR type resistance genes. The result presented in this paper will facilitate the positional cloning of RCT1 in Medicago.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge Dr. Martin Dickman and Dr. Nichole O’Neill for providing C. trifolii race 1 used for this project. We are also grateful to Dr. J.M. Prosperi for supplying seed of M. truncatula. This work was supported by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)-NRICGP grants 2005-35301-15697 and 2005-35300-15461 to H. Zhu. This article (07-06-080) is published with the approval of the Director of the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40546, USA

    Shengming Yang, Muqiang Gao & Hongyan Zhu

  2. Advanced Center for Genome Technology, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, 73109, USA

    Shweta Deshpande, Shaoping Lin & Bruce A. Roe

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  1. Shengming Yang
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  2. Muqiang Gao
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  3. Shweta Deshpande
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  4. Shaoping Lin
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  5. Bruce A. Roe
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Correspondence to Hongyan Zhu.

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Communicated by M. Xu.

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Yang, S., Gao, M., Deshpande, S. et al. Genetic and physical localization of an anthracnose resistance gene in Medicago truncatula . Theor Appl Genet 116, 45–52 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-007-0645-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-007-0645-7

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