Scientists find rice gene that fights a yield-killing fungus
Navea IP, Monsur MA, Telebanco-Yanoria MJ, De La Rosa DG, Hechanova SL
Crop Improvement
Rice feeds more than half the world's population, and this gene variant could help breeders develop varieties that resist a fungal disease responsible for major crop losses every growing season.
Rice plants can get infected by a fungus that attacks the neck of the plant, right where the grain-bearing head connects to the stem, often destroying the harvest. Researchers tested hundreds of rice varieties and found a specific gene, called Ptr, that helps some plants fight off this infection. They pinpointed the exact genetic signature that makes rice resistant, so breeders can now test seeds for this marker and grow tougher, disease-resistant rice.
Key Findings
A genome-wide association study of 335 rice accessions identified a locus on chromosome 12 (qNB1) explaining 15-18% of resistance variation to a virulent blast strain
CRISPR-Cas9 knockout of the Ptra gene variant in IR64 rice caused susceptibility to blast isolates, confirming its protective role
Rice lines carrying the Ptra allele resisted 75-85% of tested Philippine blast isolates, and a superior SNP haplotype found in 83% of IRRI elite breeding lines predicts resistance with 86% accuracy
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists identified a rice gene variant that protects against neck blast, a devastating fungal disease that attacks the stem just below the grain head and can wipe out yield. This discovery gives breeders a genetic marker to select disease-resistant rice varieties with high accuracy.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Natural variation in the atypical resistance gene Ptr confers broad-spectrum neck blast resistance in rice.
Neck blast (NB), caused by Magnaporthe oryzae, infects rice (Oryza sativa L.) and reduces yield. Knowledge of NB resistance remains limited due to the lack of reliable resistance evaluation methods...
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