A century of advances in molecular genetics and breeding for sustainable resistance to rice blast disease.

Rice blast, caused by the hemibiotrophic filamentous ascomycete fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, seriously limits rice production. Since the pioneering genetic studies in 1922, substantial advancements have been made in understanding the genetic basis of rice-M. oryzae interaction via the advanced molecular genetics studies. This has led to the development of the rice-M. oryzae interaction system as a primary model for molecular plant-microbe interaction studies. The molecular deciphering of blast resistance (R) genes and application of molecular breeding technologies have greatly accelerated the improvement of rice blast resistance. Herein, we review the current insights of molecular characterization of blast R genes and their applications to improve rice resistance through the molecular breeding approaches, including marker-assisted selection transgene, gene editing and artificial gene design. The future perspectives of molecular breeding strategies on rice blast resistance improvement are also discussed.