Progress in research and application of rice blast resistance gene

Rice blast,caused by the fungus Mangnaporthe grisea(Hebert),is one of the most devastating diseases in rice production, resulting in decreasing the yields and quality in rice.In recent decades,a rising number of blast resistance genes and quantitative trait loci(QTL) have been identified.As a quick and effective approach to collect all the target genes in crop breeding,Molecular Markerassisted Selection was used in mapping the R genes.This paper reviewed the research progress in molecular mapping and cloning of rice blast resistance genes.Furthermore,their application of rice blast resistance genes in rice molecular breeding program was described.