Incomplete Dominance of Rust Resistance in Tepary Bean

Foliar diseases are a major constraint to cultivated tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolius A. Gray var. latifolius Freeman) production in some environments. The reactions of 12 cultivated teparies to eight individual races (41, 47, 49, 51, 53, 58, 67, and 73) of the bean rust fungus Uromyces appendiculatus (Pers.) Unger var. appendiculatus maintained at Beltsville, Md., were examined under greenhouse conditions. These diverse races, used together, overcome all of the major rust-resistance genes present within the 19 host differential cultivars of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Seven lines (GN-605-s, GN-610-s, PI 321638-s, PI 502217-s, Neb-T-6-s, Neb-T-8a-s, and Neb-T-15-s) exhibited similarly high levels of resistance (immunity or necrotic spots without sporulation) to all eight races. Inheritance of resistance was examined across five susceptible × resistant (S × R) and three resistant × resistant (R × R) populations. The rust reactions in the F1, F2, and F3 generations derived from S × R crosses revealed that the immune or necrotic resistance response was conditioned by a single locus exhibiting incomplete dominance. The rust resistance of four lines tested for allelism in R × R crosses was found to be derived from the same gene. This apparent lack of variability for rust resistance suggests that a single introgression event may realize the full potential for cultivated tepary bean to contribute rust resistance to common bean through interspecific hybridization. In addition, the limited variability for resistance to the highly variable rust pathogen in cultivated tepary bean supports the occurrence of a “bottleneck effect” during domestication of this species, as observed in germplasm diversity studies.