Contrasting nutrient-disease relationships: Potassium gradients in barley leaves have opposite effects on two fungal pathogens with different sensitivities to jasmonic acid.

Understanding the interactions between mineral nutrition and disease is essential for crop management. Our previous studies with Arabidopsis thaliana demonstrated that potassium (K) deprivation induced the biosynthesis of jasmonic acid (JA) and increased the plant's resistance to herbivorous insects. Here, we addressed the question of how tissue K affects the development of fungal pathogens and whether sensitivity of the pathogens to JA could play a role for the K-disease relationship in barley (Hordeum vulgare cv. Optic). We report that K-deprived barley plants showed increased leaf concentrations of JA and other oxylipins. Furthermore, a natural tip-to-base K-concentration gradient within leaves of K-sufficient plants was quantitatively mirrored by the transcript levels of JA-responsive genes. The local leaf tissue K concentrations affected the development of two economically important fungi in opposite ways, showing a positive correlation with powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis) and a negative correlation with leaf scald (Rhynchosporium commune) disease symptoms. B. graminis induced a JA response in the plant and was sensitive to methyl-JA treatment whereas R. commune initiated no JA response and was JA insensitive. Our study challenges the view that high K generally improves plant health and suggests that JA sensitivity of pathogens could be an important factor in determining the exact K-disease relationship.