Introgression of Bacterial Blight Resistance Genes in the Rice Cultivar Ciherang: Response against Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae in the F6 Generation

Priya Lal Biswas; Ujjal Kumar Nath; Sharmistha Ghosal; Gayatri Goswami; Md Shalim Uddin; Omar M Ali; Arafat Abdel Hamed Abdel Latef; Alison M Laing; Yong-Ming Gao; Akbar Hossain

doi:10.3390/plants10102048

Introgression of Bacterial Blight Resistance Genes in the Rice Cultivar Ciherang: Response against Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae in the F₆ Generation

Plants (Basel). 2021 Sep 29;10(10):2048. doi: 10.3390/plants10102048.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Institute of Crop Sciences, Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (GSCAAS), Haidian District, Beijing 100081, China.
² Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), Joydevpur, Gazipur 1701, Bangladesh.
³ Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh 2202, Bangladesh.
⁴ Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Patuakhali 8600, Bangladesh.
⁵ Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Gazipur 1701, Bangladesh.
⁶ Department of Chemistry, Turabah University College, Turabah Branch, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, South Valley University, Qena 83523, Egypt.
⁸ CSIRO Agriculture & Food, St. Lucia, QLD 4067, Australia.
⁹ Department of Agronomy, Bangladesh Wheat and Maize Research Institute, Dinajpur 5200, Bangladesh.

Abstract

Bacterial blight (BB) is caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae and is one of the most important diseases in rice. It results in significantly reduced productivity throughout all rice-growing regions of the world. Four BB resistance genes have been reported; however, introgression of a single gene into rice has not been able to sufficiently protect rice against BB infection. Pyramiding of effective BB resistance genes (i.e., Xa genes) into background varieties is a potential approach to controlling BB infection. In this study, combinations of four BB resistance genes, Xa4, xa5, xa13, and Xa21, were pyramided into populations. The populations were derived from crossing Ciherang (a widespread Indonesian rice variety) with IRBB60 (resistance to BB). Promising recombinants from the F₆ generation were identified by scoring the phenotype against three virulent bacterial strains, C5, P6, and V, which cause widespread BB infection in most rice-growing countries. Pyramiding of genes for BB resistance in 265 recombinant introgressed lines (RILs) were confirmed through marker-assisted selection (MAS) of the F₅ and F₆ generations using gene-specific primers. Of these 265 RILs, 11, 34 and 45 lines had four, three, or two BB resistance genes, respectively. The RILs had pyramiding of two or three resistance genes, with the Xa4 resistance gene showing broad spectrum resistance against Xoo races with higher agronomic performance compared to their donor and recipients parents. The developed BB-resistant RILs have high yield potential to be further developed for cultivation or as sources of BB resistance donor material for varietal improvement in other rice lines.

Keywords: Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae; bacterial blight; marker-assisted selection; pyramiding; resistance genes; rice.

Grants and funding

TURSP-2020/81/This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2014AA10A604) and the Taif University Researchers Supporting Project number (TURSP-2020/81), Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia.