Durable rice blast resistance through genomic analysis of the host-pathogen interaction

大米提供了人类消耗的23%的热量，在许多发展中国家，这一数字甚至更高。事实上，大米是世界上至少70%最贫困人口的主要主食。在撒哈拉以南非洲，大多数国家都将水稻作为粮食安全政策的战略作物，以满足日益增长的城市人口的需求。撒哈拉以南非洲地区水稻生产的最大制约因素之一是一种称为稻瘟病的毁灭性疾病。在这些地区，这种疾病可造成高达50%的水稻收成损失，给农民造成严重的经济问题，导致大米短缺，更需要高价进口大米。该项目的目的是利用基因组测序来鉴定引起稻瘟病的病原体的种群，以确定其变异性和在最广泛种植的水稻品种上致病的能力。然后，我们的目标是利用这些知识，从世界各地的水稻库存，特别是水稻品种，特别是在非洲生长条件下茁壮成长，以确定新的抗性来源。然后，我们将使用现代的标记辅助植物育种方法来创造持久抗性的水稻品种，供撒哈拉以南非洲的种植者使用。在项目实施过程中，我们将对四名博士后研究员进行培训，他们将在该地区工作很长时间，并将传播分子遗传学、基因组学和生物信息学方面的技能。我们还将培训两名来自撒哈拉以南非洲的博士生，他们将在每个成员实验室工作，并接受用于控制世界上最具破坏性的植物疾病之一的现代遗传和基因组技术的培训。

Rice provides 23% of calories consumed by mankind, and this figure is even higher in many developing countries. In fact, rice is the primary dietary staple for at least 70% of the world's poorest people. In Sub-Saharan Africa, most countries have adopted rice as a strategic crop in their food security policies in order to meet the needs of their growing urban populations. One of the biggest constraints on rice production in Sub-Saharan Africa is a devastating disease called rice blast. This disease can cause losses of up to 50% of the rice harvest in these regions, causing severe economic problems for farmers and leading to rice shortages and a greater need for importation of rice at high prices. This project aims to characterise populations of the pathogen that causes rice blast using genome sequencing, in order to determine its variability and capacity to cause disease on the most widely grown rice varieties. We then aim to use this knowledge to identify novel sources of resistance from world-wide rice stocks and, in particular, rice varieties especially bred to thrive in African growing conditions. We will then use modern, marker-assisted plant breeding approaches to create durably resistant rice varieties for use by growers in Sub-Saharan Africa. During the course of the project we will carry out training of four post-doctoral research fellows, who will spend significant amounts of time working in the region, and who will disseminate skills in molecular genetics, genomics and bioinformatics. We will also train two PhD students from Sub-Saharan Africa who will work in each member laboratory and receive training in modern genetic and genomic techniques applied to controlling one of the world's most devastating plant diseases.