Curvularia leaf spot, caused by Curvularia lunata, is a
major leaf disease after northern and southern leaf blight
of corn. The disease occurs severely in hot, humid conditions
and can damage the crop significantly. In 1996, the
outbreak of the disease caused a great grain loss in
Northeastern China [1]. At present, use of resistant varieties
is the most efficient way to control the occurrence
of this disease. However, evolution of the pathogen to
overcome resistance genes of the host often brings great
challenges to resistance breeding, so the progress in resistance
breeding is urgent to be accelerated, while lack of
selectable markers for resistance and poor understanding
of host resistance mechanisms have hindered the process
greatly [1,2].