Chinese Bulletin of Botany ›› 2018, Vol. 53 ›› Issue (4): 477-486.DOI: 10.11983/CBB17112

• EXPERIMENTAL COMMUNICATIONS • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Rice Blast Resistance of Wild Rice in Yunnan

Wang Yunqian, Su Yanhong, Yang Rui, Li Xin, Li Jing, Zeng Qianchun*(), Luo Qiong*()   

  1. State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Bio-Resources in Yunnan, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Agriculture Biodiversity for Plant Disease Management, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming 650201, China
  • Received:2017-06-05 Accepted:2017-08-07 Online:2018-07-01 Published:2018-09-11
  • Contact: Zeng Qianchun,Luo Qiong
  • About author:† These authors contributed equally to this paper

Abstract: Wild species of Oryza contain numerous genes of economic importance and are being used as an important cultivated rice gene pool to expand the genetic background, improve yield and quality, and increase the ability for resistance or tolerance to pests as well as bioic and abiotic stresses. O. meyeriana is one of three native wild rice species in China, mainly distributed in Yunnan province. To further understand the disease resistance to rice blast, we performed a systematic investigation of rice blast resistance with O. meyeriana. O. meyeriana plants were inoculated by injection with multiple blast strains from different rice planting areas. Then, we cloned and functionally identified Pid2 and Pid3 orthologous genes in O. meyeriana. O. meyeriana was sensitive to all blast isolates used in this experiment. The DNA and amino acid sequences significantly differed between Pid2 and its orthologs in O. meyeriana, as did Pid3 and its orthologs. Nipponbare plants overexpressing the orthologous genes of Pid2 and Pid3 showed mildly enhanced susceptibility to Magnaporthe oryzae. The orthologs of blast-resistant genes in O. meyeriana may be susceptible alleles. O. meyeriana exhibited resistance to rice blast under natural inoculation likely due to a xeromorphic leaf structure that reduces susceptibility to M. oryzae. Characterization of these genes will help breed elite rice. Our study provides new information and ideas for research and utilization of O. meyeriana.

Key words: wild rice (Oryza meyeriana), rice blast resistance, R gene, gene cloning, Magnaporthe oryzae