Two novel gene-specific markers at the Pik locus facilitate the application of rice blast resistant alleles in breeding

Blast, a disease caused by Magnaporthe oryzae, is major constraint for rice production worldwide. Introgression of durable blast resistance genes into high-yielding cultivars has been considered priority to control the disease. The Pik locus, located on chromosome 11, contains at least six important genes, but these have not widely employed in breeding since existing markers hardly satisfy current needs due their limited scope application. In this study, two PCR-based markers, Pikp-Del and Pi1-In, were developed target specific InDel (insertion/deletion) Pik-p Pi-1 respectively. precisely distinguished Pik-p, Pi-1, K-type alleles which necessary element functional from varieties. Results also revealed that only several old varieties contain nearly half carry alleles. Therefore, identified can serve as new gene sources developing resistant rice. newly will be highly useful use other locus marker-assisted selection (MAS) programs.