Genetics of Resistance and Pathogenicity in the Maize/ Pathosystem and Implications for Breeding.

Northern corn leaf blight (NCLB), the most devastating leaf pathogen in maize ( L.), is caused by the heterothallic ascomycete . The pathogen population shows an extremely high genetic diversity in tropical and subtropical regions. Varietal resistance is the most efficient technique to control NCLB. Host resistance can be qualitative based on race-specific genes or quantitative controlled by many genes with small effects. Quantitative resistance is moderately to highly effective and should be more durable combatting all races of the pathogen. Quantitative resistance must, however, be analyzed in many environments (= location × year combinations) to select stable resistances. In the tropical and subtropical environments, quantitative resistance is the preferred option to manage NCLB epidemics. Resistance level can be increased in practical breeding programs by several recurrent selection cycles based on disease severity rating and/or by genomic selection. This review aims to address two important aspects of the NCLB pathosystem: the genetics of the fungus and the modes of inheritance of the host plant maize, including successful breeding strategies regarding NCLB resistance. Both drivers of this pathosystem, pathogen, and host, must be taken into account to result in more durable resistance.