Suppression subtractive hybridisation was used to isolate 21 cDNAs ( bmi1- bmi21) up-regulated 1-5 h post-inoculation (hpi) in a barley ( Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Pallas) near-isogenic line (NIL) P11 ( Mla13) challenged with either avirulent or virulent isolates of Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei. Transcriptional changes at these time-points are crucial for the Mla-mediated hypersensitive response [W.R. Bushnell and Z. Liu (1994) Physiol Mol Plant Pathol 44:389-402]. Seven sequences were up-regulated by 1 hpi, when the pathogen has formed only the primary germ tube. Some transcripts were similar to genes with a role in regulating programmed cell death in animals, including NF kappaB and oxysterol-binding protein. Moreover, bmi7, similar to rice resistance gene Xa21, was rapidly up-regulated in both compatible and incompatible interactions, but was then down-regulated by 5 hpi in the virulent interaction. Only nine of the transcripts were up-regulated in mlo5 resistance in cv. Pallas NIL P22, confirming differential pathway induction between Mla13 and mlo5. However, eight sequences up-regulated in the Mla13 response in P11 were already highly elevated in uninoculated mlo5 mutant P22, suggesting that they may be negatively regulated by wild-type Mlo. Regulation of bmi sequences was investigated using salicylic acid, methyl jasmonate, ethylene, H(2)O(2), abscisic acid, wounding and a glucan elicitor. No single stimulus up-regulated all genes, suggesting either combinations of these stimuli, or additional stimuli, are involved in early Mla13 and mlo5 resistances. Whereas H(2)O(2) up- or down-regulated 17 of the transcripts detected in Northern analyses, salicylic acid stimulated only down-regulation of 5 transcripts.