A genome-wide association study of panicle blast resistance to in rice.

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Rice blast, caused by (), is one of the most serious diseases worldwide. Developing blast-resistant rice varieties is an effective strategy to control the spread of rice blast and reduce the reliance on chemical pesticides. In this study, 477 sequenced rice germplasms from 48 countries were inoculated and assessed at the booting stage. We found that 23 germplasms exhibited high panicle blast resistance against Genome-wide association analysis (GWAS) identified 43 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) significantly associated ( < 1.0 × 10) with resistance to rice panicle blast. These QTL intervals encompass four genes (, , and /) previously reported to contribute to rice blast resistance. We selected QTLs with -Log10 (-value) greater than 6.0 or those detected in two-year replicates, amounting to 12 QTLs, for further candidate gene analysis. Three blast resistance candidate genes (, , /) were identified based on significant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) distributions within annotated gene sequences across these 12 QTLs and the differential expression levels among blast-resistant varieties after 72 h of inoculation. encodes a glycine-rich protein, , an important component of plant cell walls involved in cellular stress responses and signaling. encodes a protein with unknown function (DUF953), part of the thioredoxin-like family, which is crucial for maintaining reactive oxygen species (ROS) homeostasis in vivo, named as . Lastly, / encodes a disease resistance protein, underscoring its potential importance in plant biology. By analyzing the haplotypes of these three genes, we identified favorable haplotypes for blast resistance, providing valuable genetic resources for future rice blast resistance breeding programs.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11032-024-01486-5.