Non R-gene mediated resistance

1. An agronomically elite spinach plant comprising a downy mildew resistance contributing locus designated p10 located on chromosome 1,

wherein said locus when homozygously present provides at least intermediate resistance to Peronospora farinosa f sp. spinaciae races Pfs:1, Pfs:2, Pfs:3, Pfs:4, Pfs:5, Pfs:6, Pfs:7, Pfs:8, Pfs:9, Pfs:10, Pfs:11, Pfs:12, Pfs:13, Pfs:14, Pfs:15 and Pfs:16,

wherein the p10 locus is as found in a plant grown from a seed of which a representative sample was deposited with the NCIMB under Accession No. 42554, and

wherein the p10 locus in a plant grown from a seed of which a representative sample was deposited with the NCIMB under NCIMB Accession No. 42554 is located between marker S000979 having SEQ ID NO: 7 or 8 and marker SO01770 having SEQ ID NO: 5 or 6.

2. The spinach plant of claim 1 wherein the p10 locus in a plant grown from a seed of which a representative sample was deposited with the NCIMB under NCIMB Accession No. 42554 is linked to the SNPs in SEQ ID NO: 1, and/or SEQ ID NO: 3.

3. A spinach plant as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the p10 locus is homozygously present.

4. The agronomically elite spinach plant of claim 1 wherein said plant is an inbred line or a hybrid.

5. The spinach plant of claim 1 , wherein the spinach plant exhibits complete resistance to Peronospora farinosa f sp. spinaciae races Pfs:1-16.

6. A propagation material comprising the p10 locus of claim 1 , wherein the propagation material comprises a microspore, a pollen, an ovary, an ovule, an embryo, an embryo sac, an egg cell, a cutting, a root, a root tip, a hypocotyl, a cotyledon, a stem, a leaf, a flower, an anther, a seed, a meristematic cell, a protoplast, a cell, or a tissue culture thereof.

7. A cell of a spinach plant, wherein the cell comprises the p10 locus of claim 1 .

8. A spinach seed comprising in its genome the p10 locus of claim 1 .

9. The seed of claim 8 , wherein the seed gives rise to an agronomically elite spinach plant.

10. A harvested leaf of a spinach plant as claimed in claim 1 .

11. A food product comprising the harvested leaf of claim 10 .

12. A container comprising the harvested leaf of the spinach plant as claimed in claim 1 .

13. A method of selecting a spinach plant comprising the p10 locus of claim 1 , the method comprising

detecting in a spinach plant a marker having SEQ ID NO: 1 and/or SEQ ID NO: 3, or a marker associated with the p10 locus wherein the marker is genetically linked within 20 centiMorgan to markers having SEQ ID NO: 1, SEQ ID NO: 3, SEQ ID NO: 5, SEQ ID NO: 6, SEQ ID NO: 7, and/or SEQ ID NO: 8 and

selecting a spinach plant that comprises said marker as a spinach plant comprising the p10 locus.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising performing a phenotypic assay for Peronospora farinosa f sp. spinaciae resistance to select a spinach plan resistant to Peronospora farinosa f sp. spinaciae.

15. A method for producing a spinach plant comprising at least intermediate resistance to Peronospora farinosa f sp. spinaciae Pfs:1-16, comprising:

(a) crossing a plant comprising the p10 of claim 1 , with another plant;

(b) performing one or optionally more rounds of selfing and/or crossing;

(c) selecting after each round of selfing or crossing for a plant that comprises at least intermediate resistance to Peronospora farinosa f sp. spinaciae races Pfs:1, Pfs:2, Pfs:3, Pfs:4, Pfs:5, Pfs:6, Pfs:7, Pfs:8, Pfs:9, Pfs:10, Pfs:11, Pfs:12, Pfs:13, Pfs:14, Pfs:15 and Pfs:16.

16. A method of producing a hybrid spinach seed comprising

crossing a first parent spinach plant with a second parent spinach plant and

harvesting the resultant hybrid spinach seed,

wherein said first parent spinach plant and/or said second parent spinach plant comprises the p10 locus of claim 1 .

17. A method of determining the genotype of a spinach plant comprising the p10 locus of claim 1 , or a first or second generation progeny thereof, comprising

obtaining a sample of nucleic acids from said plant,

comparing said nucleic acids to a sample of nucleic acids obtained from a reference plant, and

detecting a plurality of polymorphisms between the two nucleic acid samples,

wherein one or more of the detected polymorphisms are indicative of the presence of the p10 locus of claim 1 .

18. The method of claim 17 additionally comprising the step of storing the results of detecting the plurality of polymorphisms on a computer readable medium, or transmitting the results of detecting the plurality of polymorphisms.

19. The spinach plant of claim 1 , which is a plant grown from seed having been deposited under NCIMB Accession No. 42554.