Mapping a quantitative trait locus for resistance to bacterial grain rot in rice

Bacterial grain rot (BGR), caused by the bacterial pathogen Burkholderia glumae, is a destructive disease of rice. Because BGR tends to be highly affected by environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity, it is difficult to evaluate BGR resistance of diverse cultivars with different heading dates by using field inoculation. Molecular tagging of genes involved in BGR is an important objective for rice breeding.

In this study, we mapped a quantitative trait locus (QTL) for BGR resistance by a modified cut-panicle inoculation method. First, we assessed the levels of BGR resistance in 84 cultivars by a standard cut-panicle inoculation technique, in which panicles are harvested and inoculated in the laboratory under controlled conditions. For the genetic analysis, we selected two cultivars: Kele, a resistant traditional lowland cultivar (indica) that originated in India, and Hitomebore, a susceptible modern lowland cultivar (temperate japonica) from Japan. Second, by comparing the susceptibility of Kele and Hitomebore spikelets before and up to 3 days after anthesis, we found a dramatic decline in susceptibility at 1 day after anthesis in Kele but not in Hitomebore. Thus, we applied a modified method by inoculating spikelets at 1 day after anthesis for further analysis. To search for QTLs associated with BGR resistance, we measured the ratio of diseased spikelets (RDS, an index reflecting both quantity and severity of infection) and the ratio of diseased spikelet area (RDSA) in 110 backcrossed inbred lines (BILs) derived from a cross between Kele and Hitomebore. One major QTL associated with both RDS and RDSA was detected on the long arm of chromosome 1. This QTL explained 25.7% and 12.1% of the total phenotypic variance in RDS and RDSA in the BILs, respectively, and the Kele allele increased BGR resistance.

We mapped a major QTL for BGR resistance on the long arm of chromosome 1. These results clearly demonstrated that genetic analysis of BGR resistance in rice can be effectively performed and that this trait could be a target of marker-assisted selection in rice breeding programs.