ARS | Publication request: An update of genetic studies of disease resistance genes and their utilizations for rice protection

Submitted to: Rice Technical Working Group Meeting Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: January 15, 2010
Publication Date: February 22, 2010
Citation: Jia, Y., Costanzo, S., Lee, S., Dai, Y., Correll, J., Roy-Chodhury, M., Cartwright, R., Lee, F. 2010. An update of genetic studies of disease resistance genes and their utilizations for rice protection. In: Proceedings of the Rice Technical Working Group Meeting, Feb. 22-24, 2010, Biloxi, MS. CDROM

Technical Abstract: The use of resistance (R) genes is one of the most economical and environmentally sound methods of crop protection. Most recently, through molecular analysis of a pathogenic factor AVR-Pita in field blast isolates from the southern U.S., we demonstrated that the blast fungus is capable of overcoming resistance provided by a single R gene through various genetic mechanisms. These findings suggest that effective resistance to blast cannot be achieved by a single R gene. In the southern U.S., rice germplasm containing blast R genes, Pi-ta, Pi-b, Pi-k(m/h/s), Pi42(t), Pi43(t), Pi-z(t) conferring overlapped resistance to all common U.S. races of blast fungus were introduced and used as resistant gene donors. DNA markers closely linked to these blast R genes and user friendly markers, “the perfect DNA markers,” derived from portions of three blast R genes, Pi-ta, Pi-b, Pi-km, have been developed. These markers can be effectively used for developing cultivars with improved blast resistance through marker assisted selection (MAS).