Patterns of post-infectional protein synthesis in barley carrying different genes for resistance to the powdery mildew fungus

Pairs of susceptible and resistant, near-isogenic cultivars of Hordeum vulgare which differ for the Mla, Mlk and Mlp genes for resistance to Erysiphe graminis f. sp. hordei were inoculated with race 3 of this pathogen and patterns of protein synthesis associated with primary infection mapped using pulse-labelling with L-[35S]methionine and 2-dimensional electrophoresis. Extraction of proteins with buffer containing detergent revealed the enhanced synthesis of 5 and 8 polypeptides at 25 and 30 h respectively after inoculation of barley carrying the Mla gene (cvMla). The enhanced synthesis of these same polypeptides together with 11 additional polypeptides was observed at 48 h and 72 h after inoculation of barley carrying either the Mlp (cvMlp) or Mlk (cvMlk) genes. The labelling of several major constitutive polypeptides was suppressed in cvMla at 24 h after inoculation; the labelling of six of these polypeptides was also suppressed in both cvMlp and cvMlk but not until 48 and 72 h after inoculation. These results indicate that changes occur in the synthesis of some common polypeptides following infection of cultivars carrying different resistance genes but the timing and extent of these changes varies with the resistance gene in the host