Genome Editing Used to Create Disease Resistant Rice
Published:28 Jun.2023 Source:University of California - Davis
Small-scale field trials in China showed that the newly created rice variety, developed through genome editing of a newly discovered gene, exhibited both high yields and resistance to the fungus that causes a serious disease called rice blast. Rice is an essential crop that feeds half of the world's population.
Guotian Li, a co-lead author of the study, initially discovered a mutant known as a lesion mimic mutant while working as a postdoctoral scholar in Pamela Ronald's lab at UC Davis. Ronald is co-lead author and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and the Genome Center.
"It's quite a step forward that his team was able to improve this gene, making it potentially useful for farmers. That makes it important," Ronald said.
The roots of the discovery began in Ronald's lab, where they created and sequenced 3,200 distinct rice strains, each possessing diverse mutations. Among these strains, Guotian identified one with dark patches on its leaves.
"He found that the strain was also resistant to bacterial infection, but it was extremely small and low yielding," Ronald said. "These types of 'lesion mimic' mutants have been found before but only in a few cases have they been useful to farmers because of the low yield."