ORIGINAL PAPER Inheritance study and linkage mapping of resistance loci to Hemileia vastatrix in Híbrido de Timor UFV 443-03 Kátia Nogueira Pestana 1 & Alexandre Sandri Capucho 2 & Eveline Teixeira Caixeta 3 & Dênia Pires de Almeida 1 & Eunize Maciel Zambolim 1 & Cosme Damião Cruz 4 & Laércio Zambolim 5 & Antônio Alves Pereira 6 & Antonio Carlos Baião de Oliveira 7 & Ney Sussumu Sakiyama 8 Received: 18 September 2014 /Revised: 26 May 2015 /Accepted: 9 June 2015 /Published online: 26 June 2015 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015 Abstract Coffee leaf rust (CLR) caused by Hemileia vastatrix Berk. et Br. is one of the major Coffea arabica diseases world- wide. CLR resistance has been attributed to at least nine domi- nant genes, as single or in combination. We present an inheri- tance study and mapping loci involved in the Híbrido de Timor (HDT) UFV 443-03 resistance to race I, race II, and pathotype 001 of H. vastatrix. Molecular markers were used to ascertain the phenotypic results and to map the putative resistance loci. For all tree isolates, the inheritance study indicated that the re- sistance of HDT UFV 443-03 is conditioned by two indepen- dent dominant loci or by three independent loci (two dominant and one recessive). Molecular marker analyses ascertained that the resistance of HDT UFV 443-03 to race II is conditioned by at least two independent dominant loci, while the resistance to race I and pathotype 001 is conditioned by at least four indepen- dent dominant loci. Gene pyramiding might result in a cultivar with durable resistance; however, it is difficult to distinguish between plants with one or more resistance genes due to epistat- ic effects. Molecular markers linked to these genes were indi- cated for marker-assisted selection, as it is an efficient breeding alternative for CLR resistance with no such epistatic effects. Keywords Coffee . Leaf rust . Breeding . MAS . Linkage map . QTL Introduction Two out of 104 Coffea species are economically important: Coffea arabica L. (arabica coffee) and Coffea canephora Pierre ex A. Froehner (robusta coffee). C. arabica presents higher cup quality than C. canephora. C. arabica is autoga- mous and allotetraploid (2n =44), while C. canephora is al- logamous and diploid (2n =22). C. canephora presents higher general genetic variability than C. arabica (Lashermes et al. 1999; de Kochko et al. 2010). Coffee leaf rust caused by Hemileia vastatrix Berk. et Br. is one of the major C. arabica diseases worldwide. This fungus attacks leaves, causing severe yield losses. Coffee tree resis- tance to H. vastatrix has been attributed to at least nine dom- inant genes (S H 1 to S H 9), as single or in combination. C. arabica is a source of S H 1, S H 2, S H 4, and S H 5; Coffea liberica of S H 3; and C. canephora of S H 6, S H 7, S H 8, and S H 9 (Wagner and Bettencourt 1965; Noronha-Wagner and Bettencourt 1967 ; Bettencourt and Carvalho 1968 ; Bettencourt and Noronha-Wagner 1971; Bettencourt et al. Communicated by D. Grattapaglia This article is part of the Topical Collection on Disease Resistance * Eveline Teixeira Caixeta eveline.caixeta@embrapa.br 1 Instituto de Biotecnologia Aplicada à Agropecuária (BIOAGRO), BioCafé, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG 36570-000, Brazil 2 Departamento de Fitopatologia, Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco, Petrolina, PE 56300-990, Brazil 3 Embrapa Café, BIOAGRO, BioCafé, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG 36570-000, Brazil 4 Departamento de Biologia Geral, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG 36570-000, Brazil 5 Departamento de Fitopatologia, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG 36570-000, Brazil 6 Empresa de Pesquisa Agropecuária de Minas Gerais (EPAMIG), Viçosa, MG 36570-000, Brazil 7 Embrapa Café, EPAMIG, Viçosa, MG 36570-000, Brazil 8 Departamento de Fitotecnia, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG 36570-000, Brazil Tree Genetics & Genomes (2015) 11: 72 DOI 10.1007/s11295-015-0903-9