Yaniv, E., Plant Genomics and Disease Resistance Laboratory, Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, Institute of Evolution, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel, LUKE/BI Plant Genomics Lab, Institute of Biotechnology, Viikki Biocenter, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 65, Helsinki, Finland
Raats, D., Plant Genomics and Disease Resistance Laboratory, Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, Institute of Evolution, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
Ronin, Y., Plant Genomics and Disease Resistance Laboratory, Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, Institute of Evolution, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
Korol, A.B., Plant Genomics and Disease Resistance Laboratory, Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, Institute of Evolution, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
Grama, A., Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel
Bariana, H., Department of Plant and Food Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Dubcovsky, J., Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA, United States, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, United States
Schulman, A.H., LUKE/BI Plant Genomics Lab, Institute of Biotechnology, Viikki Biocenter, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 65, Helsinki, Finland, LUKE Natural Resources Institute Finland, Jokioinen, Finland
Fahima, T., Plant Genomics and Disease Resistance Laboratory, Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, Institute of Evolution, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

Stripe rust disease is caused by the fungus Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici and severely threatens wheat worldwide, repeatedly breaking resistance conferred by resistance genes and evolving more aggressive strains. Wild emmer wheat, Triticum dicoccoides, is an important source for novel stripe rust resistance (Yr) genes. Yr15, a major gene located on chromosome 1BS of T. dicoccoides, was previously reported to confer resistance to a broad spectrum of stripe rust isolates, at both seedling and adult plant stages. Introgressions of Yr15 into cultivated T. aestivum bread wheat and T. durum pasta wheat that began in the 1980s are widely used. In the present study, we aimed to validate SSR markers from the Yr15 region as efficient tools for marker-assisted selection (MAS) for introgression of Yr15 into wheat and to compare the outcome of gene introgression by MAS and by conventional phenotypic selection. Our findings establish the validity of MAS for introgression of Yr15 into wheat. We show that the size of the introgressed segment, defined by flanking markers, varies for both phenotypic selection and MAS. The genetic distance of the MAS marker from Yr15 and the number of backcross steps were the main factors affecting the length of the introgressed donor segments. Markers Xbarc8 and Xgwm493, which are the nearest flanking markers studied, were consistent and polymorphic in all 34 introgressions reported here and are therefore the most recommended markers for the introgression of Yr15 into wheat cultivars. Introgression directed by markers, rather than by phenotype, will facilitate simultaneous selection for multiple stripe rust resistant genes and will help to avoid escapees during the selection process. © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.