Major Susceptibility Gene Epistasis over Minor Gene Resistance to Spot Form Net Blotch in a Commercial Barley Cultivar.

Spot form net blotch, caused by f. , is a significant global disease of barley (). Baudin, a barley cultivar that was until recently extensively grown in Western Australia, was reported as having minor seedling resistance. However, Baudin was highly susceptible to a local isolate, M3, suggesting that this isolate had gained virulence against a major susceptibility gene. M3 causes atypical lesions with pale centers early in the infection, with initial screens of a segregating population indicating that this was determined by a single locus in the Baudin genome. The susceptibility was semidominant in F progeny and the susceptibility gene, designated ( to f. ), mapped to a 190-kb section of the resistance gene-rich region of chromosome 1H. Phenotyping with SP1, a non-M3 pathotype, identified a seedling resistance locus on 2H. Minor gene resistance is generally regarded as potentially durable, but our findings suggest the resistance to spot form net blotch in Baudin is nullified by strong susceptibility conferred by a separate locus on 1H.