Cultivated peanut, Arachis hypogaea, is an allotetraploid species with low genetic diversity that is susceptible to the pathogen peanut rust, caused by the fungus Puccinia arachidis. Research has shown that wild peanut species A. stenosperma and A. batizocoi harbor resistance to various pests and pathogens, including P. arachidis. Previously, a synthetic allotetraploid created from a cross between A. stenosperma and A. batizocoi was utilized in a marker-assisted backcrossing scheme to introgress wild-derived root-knot nematode resistance into A. hypogaea. The resulting BC3 population showed possible resistance to other pathogens. Select BC3 families were screened and subsequent genotyping lead to the identification of an introgression of wild DNA on linkage group B02, from A. batizocoi, related to rust resistance. Primers were also developed and validated for this segment of wild alleles. We expect that the lines and markers developed here will be used for breeding cultivars with rust resistance using marker-assisted selection.
