U.S. rice gene collection yields new blast-resistant genes

Doane Agricultural Services posted the following item on our content site this morning:

7/12/2006 -- Agricultural Research Service researchers have tapped the U.S. rice genebank in their hunt for rice genes to guard against devastating rice blast.

This diverse collection of rice -- the USDA Rice Core Collection -- contains more than 1,700 rice plant accessions from more than 100 countries.

The ARS scientists, working at the Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center in Stuttgart, Ark., evaluated the hundreds of accessions by growing and testing each one in the laboratory and field.

Finding new genes to counter disease, pests and other threats is central to the longevity of all crops. But rice, which helps feed more than two-thirds of the world's population, especially benefits from continuous access to new genetic material, or germplasm.

That's because the crop's nemesis, rice blast, has growers and breeders engaged in a never-ending, tug-of-war battle. Farmers plant rice that's expected to stand up to the blast-causing fungus. But in just a short period of time, the pathogen finds a new way to overcome its weary host.

The blast resistance genes the Stuttgart researchers discovered should give rice plants a needed boost. These findings are different from any resistance genes currently available to the U.S. rice industry.

The USDA Rice Core Collection is part of the ARS-coordinated National Plant Germplasm System, a cooperative effort by public and private organizations to preserve crops' genetic diversity. This collection is referred to as "core" because it captures the essential genetic diversity contained in an even larger USDA rice collection of 18,000 accessions. Working with a smaller core collection streamlines breeders' efforts to uncover valuable genes.

SOURCE: USDA/ARS news release.

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