Expression levels of three bacterial blight resistance genes against K3a race of Korea by molecular and phenotype analysis in japonica rice (O. sativa L.)

Abstract

Bacterial blight, caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) is a destructive disease of rice in the major rice growing countries of Asia. In 2003, a serious bacterial blight epidemic occurred in the southwestern coastal areas in Korea, causing significant yield loss due to the emergence of a new race, K3a. IR24 near-isogenic lines containing Xa4, xa5, Xa7 and Xa21 genes conferred different degrees of resistance to the most virulent K3a isolate, HB01009 in an inoculation experiment in the greenhouse. Expression levels of the resistance genes, Xa4, xa5 and Xa21 were studied in two F2 populations derived from the crosses between elite japonica cultivars and an advanced backcross breeding line possessing Xa4, xa5 and Xa21 genes. F2 progenies segregated for K3a resistance (R) and susceptible (S) phenotypes in a ratio of 3(R):1(S) indicated that K3a resistance was controlled by a major dominant gene. Three PCR markers tightly linked to the resistance genes Xa4, xa5 and Xa21 confirmed the presence of the genes and their interaction with each gene. This study demonstrated that the Xa21 gene dominantly contributed to K3a resistance. However, the Xa4 gene also contributed to the full expression of resistance. The level of expression of strong resistance to K3a race was attributed to the presence of Xa21 and Xa4 genes irrespective of the presence of xa5 gene. Our results suggest that the R-gene combinations of Xa4+Xa21 could be a useful and effective strategy toward improving resistance to K3a race of Korean japonica cultivars.