Jin Wang , Xing Zhao , Fumin Gao

Tropical Microbial Resources Research Center, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resources, Sanya, 572025, Hainan, China
Author    Correspondence author
Triticeae Genomics and Genetics, 2025, Vol. 16, No. 4   
Received: 30 Jun., 2025    Accepted: 15 Aug., 2025    Published: 30 Aug., 2025

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Wheat is one of the most important food crops in the world, but its yield and quality are often seriously threatened by a variety of diseases such as rust, head blight and powdery mildew. Traditional single-gene disease resistance breeding faces huge challenges due to the rapid mutation of pathogen populations and the easy failure of resistance. In this context, the aggregation of multiple disease resistance genes through molecular breeding has become an effective strategy to improve wheat disease resistance. This study reviews the current research progress of wheat disease resistance genes, the application of molecular tools such as marker-assisted selection (MAS), genomic selection, and CRISPR gene editing, as well as the integration path of these technologies in the breeding of multi-resistant wheat varieties. Through actual cases such as the aggregation of rust resistance genes such as Lr, Sr, and Yr, and the combined application of Fhb1 and Fhb2 head blight resistance genes, the significant effect of gene aggregation in enhancing disease resistance was verified. At the same time, this study also analyzed the effects of aggregation on agronomic traits, explored the challenges faced by resistance persistence and gene interactions, and looked forward to the future direction of combining molecular breeding with sustainable agriculture, in order to achieve long-term control of wheat diseases and food security.

Wheat; Disease resistance gene aggregation; Marker-assisted selection; Genomic selection; Breeding strategy