Unveiling a Novel Source of Resistance to Bacterial Blight in Medicinal Wild Rice, .

Bacterial blight (BB) caused by pv. () is among the oldest known bacterial diseases found for rice in Asia. It is the most serious bacterial disease in many rice growing regions of the world. A total of 47 resistance (R) genes ( to ) have been identified. Nonetheless, these R genes could possibly be defeated to lose their qualitative nature and express intermediate phenotypes. The identification of sources of novel genetic loci regulating host plant resistance is crucial to develop an efficient control strategy. Wild ancestors of cultivated rice are a natural genetic resource contain a large number of excellent genes. Medicinal wild rice () belongs to the CC genome and is a well-known wild rice in south China. In this study, was crossed with cultivated rice HY-8 and their hybrids were screened for BB resistance genes deployed through natural selection in wild rice germplasm. The molecular markers linked to R genes for BB were used to screen the genomic regions in wild parents and their recombinants. The gene coding and promoter regions of major R genes were inconsistently found in and its progenies. showed resistance to all thirty inoculated strains with non-availability of various known R genes. The results indicated the presence of novel genomic regions for BB resistance in . The present study not only provides a reference to investigate medicinal rice for R gene(s) identification against BB but also identified it as a new breeding material for BB resistance.