Fusarium head blight (FHB), or ear rot, occurs mainly in areas with high humidity during flowering, and has emerged as the most serious wheat and barley disease in China, North America, and Europe.
HvCNGC4 shares 67% aa identity with AtCNGC4 [ 9], suggesting that a similarly to dnd2 in A. thaliana nec1 mutation may affect barley disease resistance.
Taking into account that such differences occur in the SA mediated resistance signaling among monocots and dicots, it is interesting to see whether mutation affecting SA mediated disease resistance in A. thaliana is also involved in barley disease resistance.
Although NEC1 has been shown to encode cyclic nucleotide gated ion channel 4 (CNGC4) and to over-express the defense-related PR-1 gene [ 9], the effect of nec1 mutation on barley disease resistance has not yet been characterized.
Increased resistance of nec1 against non-host pathogen Pst suggests that nec1 mutation may affect certain aspects of barley disease resistance, while it remains to be determined, if the effect on disease resistance is a direct response to changes in SA signaling.
