Researchers from Australia's Centre for Crop and Disease Management
(CCDM) have discovered a set of unique and potentially durable
resistancegenesfrom exotic barley lines and landraces that can be used
to develop crops with more stable resistance to powdery mildew.

The three adult genes (/RBgh1-3/) discovered at CCDM, a leading
Australian research center with co-investment by the Grains Research and
Development Corporation (GRDC) and Curtin University share new
mechanisms for fighting the barley powdery mildew pathogen, are the best
hope yet of achieving long term resistance to the disease. The research
team searched for resistance in more than 1,000 exotic lines and wild
relatives of barley from regions of the crop's diversity in Africa and
Asia that was accessed through the Australian Grains Genebank. They
discovered that the exotic barley lines and their types of resistance
are diverse.

Dr. Simon Ellwood, CCDM's barley research team lead said that the newly
discovered genes operate with a different mechanism to resist powdery
mildew, and integrating them into Australian barley cultivars should
make for a strong defense for the pathogen. Dr. Ellwood added that their
discovery appears to be broad-spectrum and shows resistance to all
powdery mildew pathotypes tested. The new genes would reduce the
reliance on/mlo/, a broad-spectrum resistance discovered in 2016 and is
the only current alternative.

New barley powdery mildew resistance genes key to future resistance -
GRDC
[grdc.com.au]