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Breeding for Disease Resistance with Minor Genes: Case Studies and Success Stories

2025· preprint· en· W4414608321 on OpenAlexaff
Robert McGee, Marysia Zaleski-Cox, Barry L. Tillman, Owen Wally, Malini Jayawardana, W. G. Dilantha Fernando, Parveen Chhuneja, Harsh Raman, Harbans Bariana, Tanya Copley, Arron H. Carter, Valerio Hoyos‐Villegas

Bibliographic record

Venuenot available
Typepreprint
Languageen
FieldAgricultural and Biological Sciences
TopicPlant pathogens and resistance mechanisms
Canadian institutionsUniversity of ManitobaGrain Research CentreAgriculture and Agri-Food CanadaMcGill University
Fundersnot available
KeywordsDiseaseResistance (ecology)Minor (academic)Disease managementPlant disease resistance

Abstract

fetched live from OpenAlex

Among the established disease control strategies, host resistance plays a critical role in disease management across numerous host-pathogen systems. Research on minor genes is important to enhance disease resistance and to prolong effectiveness of major resistance (R) genes. Plant breeders often prefer to use R gene-mediated resistance due to the relatively simple means of introgressing R genes into breeding material using markers, whereas quantitative resistance (QR), though more complex to introduce, offers potentially more durable resistance. In this review, we highlight several case studies evaluating their objectives, the challenges they faced, and the progress they have made towards breeding with minor genes for QR. For blackleg (Leptosphaeria maculans) in canola (Brassica napus) and white mold (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum) in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), we detail the minor genes and quantitative trait loci (QTL) procedures used for their detection, general challenges when breeding with QR, and the developed germplasm sources Following this, we review notable success stories in breeding efforts for minor genes against stem rust, leaf rust, and stripe rust (Puccinia spp.) in wheat (Triticum aestivum), late leaf spot, early leaf spot, tomato and spotted wilt, and southern stem rot in peanut (Arachis hypogaea), as well as common bacterial blight in common bean. Finally, we evaluate emerging technologies and research avenues that could further accelerate progress in breeding for QR. Key advancements discussed include high-throughput phenotyping, phenomic selection, genomic selection, genome editing, traditional/classical pre-breeding, TILLING and EcoTILLING, and strategies leveraging pathogen population genetics and host-pathogen interactions.

Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.

How this classification was reachedexpand

Full frame machine prediction

Teacher imitation

Not calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.

metaresearch head score (Codex)0.006
metaresearch head score (Gemma)0.008
Version: metacan-v3-hybrid-931329e0061cValidation status: machine_predicted_unvalidated
Candidate categoriesnone
Consensus categoriesnone
DomainCandidate signal: none · Consensus signal: none
Study designCandidate signal: Case report · Consensus signal: none
GenreCandidate signal: Empirical · Consensus signal: none
Teacher disagreement score0.006
Threshold uncertainty score0.031

Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)

CategoryCodexGemma
Metaresearch0.0060.008
Meta-epidemiology (narrow)0.0010.000
Meta-epidemiology (broad)0.0010.001
Bibliometrics0.0010.002
Science and technology studies0.0010.001
Scholarly communication0.0020.001
Open science0.0010.001
Research integrity0.0010.002
Insufficient payload (model declined to judge)0.0010.001

Machine scores (provisional)

The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.

Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.

Opus teacher head0.043
GPT teacher head0.268
Teacher spread0.225 · how far apart the two teachers sit on this one work
Validation statusscore_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from it

Classification

machine, unvalidated

Machine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.

The models applied no category: nothing in the taxonomy fit this work.
Study designCase report
Domainnot available
GenreEmpirical

How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".

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Citations0
Published2025
Admission routes1
Has abstractyes

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