Molecular Pathogens, 2025, Vol.16, No.5, 236-245 http://microbescipublisher.com/index.php/mp 236 Feature Review Open Access Advances in Rice Breeding for Resistance to Fungal and Bacterial Diseases Ziyi Dong, Danyan Ding Institute of Life Science, Jiyang College of Zhejiang A&F University, Zhuji, 311800, Zhejiang, China Corresponding author: danyan.ding@jicat.org Molecular Pathogens, 2025, Vol.16, No.5 doi: 10.5376/mp.2025.16.0024 Received: 08 Sep., 2025 Accepted: 11 Oct., 2025 Published: 20 Oct., 2025 Copyright © 2025 Dong and Ding, 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: Dong Z.Y., and Ding D.Y., 2025, Advances in rice breeding for resistance to fungal and bacterial diseases, Molecular Pathogens, 16(5): 236-245 (doi: 10.5376/mp.2025.16.0024) Abstract Rice is one of the most important food crops in the world, but various fungal and bacterial diseases seriously threaten rice yield and food security. According to statistics, the annual rice yield losses caused by pests and diseases account for approximately 25%~40% of the global total. The prevention and control of major diseases such as rice blast and bacterial blight is particularly urgent. Disease-resistant breeding is considered the most economical, effective and environmentally friendly means of preventing and controlling rice diseases. This study reviews the occurrence and harm of major fungal and bacterial diseases in rice, the genetic basis and molecular mechanisms of rice disease resistance, and the progress in combining traditional breeding with molecular breeding technology. At the same time, it focuses on the application of new precision breeding technologies such as gene editing in cultivating new disease-resistant rice varieties, as well as functional genomics research results that analyze the molecular mechanisms of disease resistance. We also discussed the impact of environmental factors on the expression and stability of disease resistance, analyzed possible risks faced by the continued utilization of disease resistance genes, and proposed management strategies. Finally, the future development direction of rice disease resistance breeding was summarized and prospected. Keywords Rice; Fungal diseases; Bacterial diseases; Disease resistance breeding; Molecular mechanism 1 Introduction Rice plays an important role in global food security, and its production is often threatened by various diseases. Among them, fungal and bacterial diseases such as rice blast and bacterial blight are the most serious diseases, causing rice yield reductions of up to 10%~30% every year. Some studies have shown that in some high-infection areas, the proportion of yield reduction caused by the disease may exceed 40%. With climate change and the evolution of cropping systems, rice diseases are showing a trend of increasing frequency and expanding epidemic areas (Ashkani et al., 2015; Zarbafi and Ham, 2019). The outbreak of major diseases not only directly results in reduced grain production and quality, but also has a serious impact on the agricultural ecological environment and farmers' livelihoods. Disease resistance breeding is one of the core ways to achieve sustainable prevention and control of rice diseases. In the past few decades, scientific researchers around the world have conducted in-depth research on the genetics and molecular mechanisms of rice disease resistance, and more than 100 and 40 rice blast and bacterial blight resistance genes have been cloned and identified respectively (Nihad et al., 2023). Utilizing these disease-resistant genes to breed disease-resistant varieties has proven to be the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly strategy for preventing and controlling rice diseases. However, due to the race specificity of many disease resistance genes and the continuous variation of pathogenic bacterial populations, the resistance of a single disease-resistant variety is often difficult to last. This study summarizes the latest progress and characteristics of rice breeding for resistance to fungal and bacterial diseases on the basis of previous research results. It mainly includes the types and prevalence of major fungal and bacterial diseases of rice; the genetic basis and molecular mechanism of rice disease resistance; as well as the impact of environmental interaction factors on the stability of disease resistance and the management of disease resistance persistence. Through the review of the above content, we hope to provide reference and inspiration for rice disease resistance breeding and comprehensive disease prevention and control.
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