Powdery mildew, caused by Blumeria graminis (DC.) E.O. Speer f. sp. tritici E'm. Marchal (syn. Erysiphe graminis f. sp. tritici), is one of the major diseases of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) worldwide. The use of cultivars with resistance to powdery mildew is an efficient, economical and environmentally safe way to control powdery mildew. Race-specific resistance has been extensively used in breeding programs; however, it is ephemeral. Adult plant resistance (APR) to powdery mildew is more durable as demonstrated by the cultivar Massey, which has maintained its APR to powdery mildew since its release in 1981. To develop an efficient breeding strategy, it is essential to understand the genetic basis of APR. The objectives of this study were to identify molecular markers associated with APR to powdery mildew in common wheat Massey and to verify their association using recombinant inbred (RI) lines. A cross was made between the powdery mildew susceptible cultivar Becker and Massey. One hundred and eighty F2:3 lines were rated for disease severity under natural pressure of powdery mildew in field. Using both restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and microsatellite markers, three quantitative trait loci (QTL), designated as QPm.vt-1B, QPm.vt-2A and QPm.vt-2B, were identified in the Becker x Massey F2:3 generation. These loci are located on chromosomes 1B, 2A and 2B, respectively, and explained 17%, 29% and 11% of the total variation among F2:3 lines for powdery mildew resistance, respectively. Cumulatively, the three QTLs explained 50% of the phenotypic variation among F2:3 lines in a multi-QTL model. The three QTLs associated with APR to powdery mildew were derived from Massey and displayed additive gene action. QPm.vt-2B also fits a recessive model for APR to powdery mildew. In the second part of this study, 97 RI lines were developed from the Becker x Massey cross. The RI lines were evaluated for APR to powdery mildew under natural disease pressure for three years. Both single marker analysis and interval mapping confirmed the presence of the three QTLs identified in the F2:3 generation. The three QTLs, QPm.vt-1B, QPm.vt-2A and QPm.vt-2B, accounted for 15%, 26% and 15% of the variation of mean powdery mildew severity of the RI lines over three years. In a multi-QTL model, the three QTLs explained 44% of the phenotypic variation of the RI lines. The RI lines were grouped according to the genotype of the three QTLs, represented by markers GWM304a, KSUD22 and PSP3100, respectively. The RI lines with Massey alleles at all three loci had a mean disease severity of 3.4%, whereas the RI lines with Becker alleles at all three loci had a mean disease severity of 22.3%. These severity values are similar to those of the corresponding parents. The molecular markers identified and verified as to their association with APR to powdery mildew in Massey have the potential for use in marker-assisted selection for resistance to powdery mildew and in pyramiding powdery mildew resistance genes, as well as facilitating a better understanding of the molecular basis of APR to powdery mildew. / Ph. D.

Powdery mildew, caused by the pathogen Blumeria graminis (DC) Speer (Syn. Erysiphe graminis DC) f. sp. tritici, is a major disease of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Race-specific resistance is easily identified in the field due to its qualitative phenotype and it is easy to incorporate because it is inherited as a single gene. Unfortunately, this type of resistance is easily overcome by the pathogen. Traits associated with quantitative trait loci (QTL) such as adult-plant resistance (APR), have become popular with plant breeders because of their durability over a wide geographic range and time. Due to the quantitative nature of these genes, they are difficult to study requiring multiple assessments of disease development under natural conditions in more than one location over a period of several weeks. Numerous QTL for APR to powdery mildew have been mapped in independent studies in different wheat backgrounds. The wheat cultivar Massey has been the subject of several studies due to its APR to powdery mildew that has remained effective for several decades. However, it has been difficult to identity simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers that are tightly linked to the QTL for APR in Massey. Such markers give breeders an advantage by allowing them to quickly identify and select for traits that would be difficult to distinguish in the field among breeding progeny from several backgrounds. Therefore, identification of tightly linked markers associated with APR to powdery mildew is necessary so that these traits can be selected for reliably in progeny. / Master of Science

Barley is one of the most important crop species in Turkey and powdery mildew is one of the most common pathogen decreasing yield in barley. For this problem, agricultural biologists apply breeding technologies in order to select and propagate resistant barley cultivars. However, this is not a permanent solution since pathogens evolve rapidly to overcome plant resistance mechanisms. On the other hand, molecular plant pathologists are trying to understand basic mechanisms underlying plant-pathogen interactions by using molecular tools in order to develop long term solutions for preventing yield loss. In this thesis, miR159 mediated regulation of barley GAMyb transcription factor is studied. According to microRNA microarray results regarding to infection with powdery mildew pathogen Blumeria graminis f.spp hordei (Bgh) at different time points, miR159 expression level showed significant differences. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that miRNA159 targets GAMyb gene in barley. In order to investigate this relationsh&amp / #8223 / p, both miRNA and miRNA target were cloned into GFP containing expression vectors through Gateway cloning and resulting vectors were transformed into Nicotiana benthamiana through Agrobacterium mediated gene transfer. Observations based on GFP expression showed that miRNA159 targets and decreases the expression of GAMyb in vivo. v To conclude, this study can be evaluated as a distinctive study for two aspects / (i) it is the first study assessing a &ldquo / putative&rdquo / barley miRNA function biologically and (ii) developed a practical and effective functional assay for miRNA studies in plants.

Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei is a biotroph pathogen that causes powdery mildew disease in barley. In this study, Pallas01 and Pallas03 barley lines having Mla1, Ml (Al2) and Mla6, Mla14 R-genes were inoculated with Bgh103(64/01) race of the Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei having avirulence and virulence to Pallas01 and Pallas03, respectively. The proteins were isolated from the three biological replicates of 12, 24, and 48 hpi samples following the method in Rampitsch et al., 2006. These there biological replicates of three time points together with the mock inoculated plant proteins were separated on 2D-PAGE using IPG strips of 4-7 pH values as three technical replicates, resulting 108 gels. The gels were analyzed using PdQuest (Bio Rad) in order to assess up- or down-regulated protein spots by comparing against controls and the samples having resistance or susceptible responses with each other. According to the analysis, 36 proteins were found to be differentiated and among them 18 proteins were found up-regulated and 8 proteins were found down-regulated. The spots were manually v excised and subjected to the nano-LC-ESI-MS/MS analysis (Proteome Factory, Germany). The MASCOT algorithm was used for identification of the possible proteins. The experimental pI and MW values were used for selecting the differentiated proteins from the mass results. The relative abundance of each of the 38 identified polypeptides was calculated in terms of spot intensity. The majority of the most abundant proteins were found to be carbohydrate metabolism related. The relative distribution of the proteins into four main functional categories was taken into consideration. Statistical tests (Students&amp / #8223 / T-test) were carried among the identified proteins in order to reveal statistically significant proteins throughout the study. By making a WoLF PSORT search, subcellular localization of the proteins was predicted. Accordingly, most of the proteins were found to be located in cytoplasm or chloroplast.

Blumeria graiminis f. sp. hordei (powdery mildew) is an obligate biotroph infecting hordeum vulgare (barley). It is one of the most devastating pathogens of barley, decreasing barley yield in great extent. In order to decrease barley loss, numerous studies are being conducted for overcoming the disease from the sides of both pathogen and host. However the pathogen is evolving very rapidly preventing the effective use of pesticides such as fungisides or development of resistant barley varieties by crossing race-specific resistance varieties, varieties having R genes, with susceptible but high yield producing varieties. In order to understand the mechanism of pathogen-host interactions, and producing enduring solutions for the problem of yield loss in barley molecular tools need to be used. In this thesis study, Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) molecular marker method is used in order to reveal the molecular characterization of Turkish Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei varieties collected from &Ccedil / ukurova region in Turkey. Thirty-nine samples were analyzed with eigth universal races, of which virulence genes are studied. AFLP studies were conducted on LI-COR 4300 DNA Analyzer system. Bioinformatics analysis was performed with NTSYS program. By the help of this Numerical Taxonomic System, similarity, dissimilarity, clustering, dendograms, two-dimensional scatter plots, and three-dimensional perspective plots were obtained. By the light of these analyses Turkish Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei varieties together with universal races are grouped into three clusteres. In conclusion, studying Turkish Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei isolates and comparing them with universal races is a unique study in terms of characterizing the Turkish Bgh isolates for the first time, and can be used as a frontier study for studying Resistance genes, by reverse genetic tools.

Afin d'améliorer nos pratiques agricoles dans le contexte d'une agriculture durable, plusieurs agents de lutte biologique (ALB) ont été développés, testés et sont maintenant utilisés dans le monde pour combattre les pertes de rendements causées par les maladies. Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei ( Bgh) est l'agent pathogène responsable du blanc de l'orge et peut réduire les rendements de cette culture jusqu'à 40%. Un champignon épiphyte, Pseudozyma flocculosa, a été découvert et identifié en 1987 en association étroite avec le blanc du trèfle. Les chercheurs ont alors remarqué que ce champignon exhibait une forte activité antagoniste contre le blanc en détruisant les structures de l'agent pathogène. Suite à d'autres travaux, il est apparu que ce comportement antagoniste était dirigé contre tous les membres des Erysiphales et semblait lié à la synthèse d'un glycolipide antifongique soit la flocculosine. Toutefois, on n'est toujours pas parvenus à associer l'efficacité de l'ALB avec la production de ce glycolipide. Ces observations suggèrent que d'autres facteurs seraient impliqués lorsque les deux protagonistes, l'ALB et le blanc, sont en contact. L'objectif principal de ce projet était donc de chercher d'autres mécanismes moléculaires pouvant expliquer l'interaction P. flocculosa-blanc et orge, en faisant une analyse transcriptomique complète des trois protagonistes en même temps. L'interaction tripartite a été échantillonnée à différents temps suivant l'inoculation de P. flocculosa sur des feuilles d'orge présentant déjà une intensité de blanc d'environ 50%. Les échantillons de feuilles prélevés ont ensuite été utilisés pour l'extraction de l'ARN qui ont été ensuite transformés en ADNc pour la préparation des librairies. Cinq répliquats ont été effectués pour chaque temps et le tout a été séquencé à l'aide de séquençage par synthèse Illumina HiSeq. Les séquences obtenues (reads) ont ensuite été analysées à l'aide du logiciel CLC Genomics Workbench. Brièvement, les séquences obtenues ont été cartographiées sur les trois génomes de référence. Suite à la cartographie, les analyses d'expression ont été conduites et les gènes exprimés de façon différentielle ont été recherchés. Cette étape a été conduite en portant une attention particulière aux gènes codant pour un groupe de protéines appelées CSEP pour “candidate secreted effector proteins” qui seraient possiblement impliquées dans l'interaction tripartite. Parmi les protéines exprimées de façon différentielle en présence du blanc ou en absence de ce dernier, nous avons pu constater que certaines CSEP étaient fortement exprimées en présence du blanc. Ces résultats sont prometteurs et nous offrent une piste certaine pour l'élucidation des mécanismes impliqués dans cette interaction tripartite.

Plant immune system is entirely based on the immunities of the individual cells in which systemic signals originate from the infection sites. Powdery mildew disease is one of the agents causing these infection sites, resulting in significant yield losses, if disease develops. Understanding the molecular basis of plant-pathogen interactions is the new trend for fighting against plant pathogens, since classical methods used in selection of resistant plants are becoming less and less efficient nowadays. Thus, finding out the genes which are responsible in plant&rsquo / s resistance is becoming very important. In this thesis, effect of &lsquo / General Control Nondepressible-2&rsquo / (GCN2) homolog protein in barley defense mechanism was aimed to be studied. The GCN2 of yeast was v previously identified in our laboratory as an interacting protein when the yeast cDNA library was screened with a putative yellow rust R gene (Yr10) fragment. There are reports available in the literature for the function of GCN2 protein, which makes it a good candidate for a role in disease resistance. Thus, the barley homologue of GCN2 might have a role in the R protein mediated early disease response of which may be proceeding via Programmed Cell Death (PCD). In order to observe such function of HvGCN2 in barley, silencing of its expression via Virus Induced Gene Silencing (VIGS) was investigated. Therefore, the GCN2 homologue was found to function as dampening the severity of the disease. The silencing with triple technical replicates was observed in 5 of the 6 samples, at an average of 43.2% by qRT-PCR analysis. The pathogen growth levels at different time points were analyzed under light microscope on the silenced and the control samples by measuring the primary and secondary hyphae lengths. The total of 24 seedlings and 292 individual spores were analyzed, and then the level of disease formation was quantitated with 603 primary hyphae and 106 secondary hyphae measurements. Up to 25% hyphae growth rate differences between the control and silenced groups were observed with a probability value less than 0.05 on t-test.