The Plant Pathology Journal Note Open Access Accumulation of Transcripts Abundance after Barley Inoculation with

Spot blotch caused by the hemibiotrophic pathogen Cochliobolus sativus has been the major yield-reducing factor for barley production during the last decade. Monitoring transcriptional reorganization triggered in response to this fungus is an essential first step for the functional analysis of genes involved in the pro-cess. To characterize the defense responses initiated by barley resistant and susceptible cultivars, a survey of transcript abundance at early time points of C. sativus inoculation was conducted. A notable number of tran-scripts exhibiting significant differential accumulations in the resistant and susceptible cultivars were detected compared to the non-inoculated controls. At the p-value of 0.0001, transcripts were divided into three general categories; defense, regulatory and unknown function, and the resistant cultivar had the greatest number of common transcripts at different time points. Quanti-ties of differentially accumulated gene transcripts in both cultivars were identified at 24 h post infection, the approximate time when the pathogen changes trophic lifestyles. The unique and common accumulated tran-scripts might be of considerable interest for enhancing effective resistance to C. sativus