Molecular Plant Breeding 2016, Vol.7, No.33, 1
-
15
1
Research Report Open Access
Marker-assisted Introgression of a Broad-spectrum Resistance Gene,
Pi40
Improved
Blast Resistance of Two Elite Rice (
Oryza sativa
L.) Cultivars of Turkey
Necmi Beşer
1
, Marilyn M. Del Valle
2
, Suk-Man Kim
2
, Ricky B. Vinarao
2
, Halil Sürek
3
, Kshirod K. Jena
2
1 Trakya University, Plant Breeding Research And Application Center, Edirne, Turkey, and Trakya University Havsa Vocational School, 22500 Havsa / Edirne,
Turkey
2 Novel Gene Resources Laboratory, Plant Breeding Division, International Rice Research Institute, DAPO Box 7777, 1226 Metro Manila, Philippines
3 Trakya Agricultural Research Institute, P. Box 16, 22100, Edirne, Turkey
Corresponding author Email
Molecular Plant Breeding, 2016, Vol.7, No.33 doi
Received: 16 May, 2016
Accepted: 01 July, 2016
Published: 18 Sep., 2016
Copyright © 2016
Cui et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article
:
Beşer N., Del Valle M.M., Kim S.M., Vinarao R.B., Sürek H., and Jena K.K., 2016, Marker-assisted Introgression of a Broad-spectrum Resistance Gene,
Pi40
Improved Blast Resistance of Two Elite Rice (
Oryza sativa
L.) Cultivars of Turkey, Molecular Plant Breeding, 7(33): 1-15 (doi
Abstract
Rice blast, caused by
Magnaporthe oryzae
is the most serious fungal disease of cultivated rice (
Oryza sativa
). In serious
disease infection, significant yield loss in japonica and indica rice occurs every year worldwide. Of the 100 blast resistance genes
identified, majorities are race specific and resistance breaks down rapidly. However, the new resistance gene,
Pi40
shows
broad-spectrum resistance to blast races in many tropical and temperate rice growing countries including Turkey. In this study, the
Pi40
gene was introgressed into two Turkish elite cultivars, Osmancik-97 and Halilbey, to improve with broad-spectrum durable blast
resistance and high yield potential through marker-assisted backcross breeding. Advanced backcross lines (ABLs) of BC
3
F
6
and
BC
4
F
6
generations were produced from the crosses of Osmancik-97 and Halilbey with the
Pi40
-donor line,
IR83260-1-1-1-5-B-3-1-2-B. ABLs with homozygous
Pi40
alleles were selected by foreground analysis using gene-specific CAPS
DNA marker 9871.T7E2b. The two varieties were expressing high susceptibility to blast disease isolates in Turkey and Philippines.
Eleven selected ABLs expressed strong resistance to blast races in natural field and spray inoculation conditions. Background
analysis of selected ABLs with 6K SNP assays showed 90.07% and 70.78% recovery of the recurrent genotype for Osmancik-97 and
Halilbey ABLs respectively. We have produced valuable resources for blast disease resistance and developed improved breeding lines
with strong resistance to blast for their cultivation in Turkey. Our new strategy of transferring the novel blast resistance gene (
Pi40
)
into Turkish varieties will enhance rice production and productivity in the temperate regions of the world.
Keywords
Blast, Marker-assisted backcrossing,
Pi40
, Resistance, Rice
Introduction
Rice (
Oryza sativa
L
.
) is the staple food for more than half of the world population. Increasing global population
escalates demand for rice consumption particularly in most of the Asian countries. In this context, there is a need
to increase rice production more than 40 percent by 2030 to feed the increasing population (Khush, 2005). Even
though rice ranks second to wheat in terms of area harvested; but in terms of importance as food crop, rice
provides more calories per hectare than any other cereal crop (De Datta, 1981). Rice is cultivated in tropical as
well as temperate ecosystems as indica and japonica cultivars respectively. Rice cultivated in limited areas of
temperate regions of Turkey is a typical japonica type where rice consumption is increasing (Beser and Surek,
2012).
In a modernised agriculture system, major biotic and abiotic stresses limit rice production due to the emergence of
new pathotypes of diseases, breakdown of resistance genes in elite cultivars and climatic changes (Normile, 2008).
Of the several biotic stresses, blast disease causes significant yield loss annually. Rice blast caused by the fungus
Magnaporthe oryzae
(anamorph
: Pyricularia grisea
Sacc.) is generally considered as the most severe disease
worldwide due to its widespread distribution in over 80 countries and becomes epidemic in severe infections (Ou,
1980; Zeigler et al., 1994).
Turkey is one of the most favoured countries in terms of agricultural production due to good ecological and
