Identification of an Avirulence Gene in the Fungus Magnaporthe grisea Corresponding to a Resistance Gene at the Pik Locus.

ABSTRACT A rice isolate of Magnaporthe grisea collected from China was avirulent on rice cvs. Hattan 3 and 13 other Japanese rice cultivars. The rice cv. Hattan 3 is susceptible to almost all Japanese blast fungus isolates from rice. The genetic basis of avirulence in the Chinese isolate on Japanese rice cultivars was studied using a cross between the Chinese isolate and a laboratory isolate. The segregation of avirulence or virulence was studied in 185 progeny from the cross, and monogenic control was demonstrated for avirulence to the 14 rice cultivars. The resistance gene that corresponds to the avirulence gene (Avr-Hattan 3) is thought to be located at the Pik locus. Resistance and susceptibility in response to the Chinese isolate in F(3) lines of a cross of resistant and susceptible rice cultivars were very similar to the Pik tester isolate, Ken54-20. Random amplified polymorphic DNA markers and restriction fragment length polymorphism markers from genetic maps of the fungus were used to construct a partial genetic map of Avr-Hattan 3. We obtained several flanking markers and one co-segregated marker of Avr-Hattan 3 in the 144 mapping population.