Metatranscriptomic Sequencing of Sheath Blight-Associated Isolates of Revealed Multi-Infection by Diverse Groups of RNA Viruses.

Rice sheath blight, caused by the soil-borne fungus (teleomorph: Basidiomycota), is one of the most devastating phytopathogenic fungal diseases and causes yield loss. Here, we report on a very high prevalence (100%) of potential virus-associated double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) elements for a collection of 39 fungal strains of from the rice sheath blight samples from at least four major rice-growing areas in the Philippines and a reference isolate from the International Rice Research Institute, showing different colony phenotypes. Their dsRNA profiles suggested the presence of multiple viral infections among these Philippine populations.

An Efficient Method for Screening Rice Breeding Lines Against Races of .

Rice blast, caused by , is the most destructive rice disease worldwide. The disease symptoms are usually expressed on the leaf and panicle. The leaf disease intensity in controlled environmental conditions is frequently quantified using a 0 to 5 scale, where 0 represents the absence of symptoms, and 5 represents large eyespot lesions.

Suppression of cell wall-related genes associated with stunting of Oryza glaberrima infected with Rice tungro spherical virus.

Rice tungro disease is a complex disease caused by the interaction between Rice tungro bacilliform virus and Rice tungro spherical virus (RTSV). RTSV alone does not cause recognizable symptoms in most Asian rice (Oryza sativa) plants, whereas some African rice (O. glaberrima) plants were found to become stunted by RTSV.