Investigating the biology of rice blast disease and prospects for durable resistance

There are important biological process involved in rice blast disease that are now well-studied during the early events in plant infection which include: the cell biology of appressorium formation, the biology of invasive growth and effector secretion, the two distinct mechanisms of effector secretion, the nature of the plant-pathogen interface, PAMP-triggered immunity modulation by secreted effectors and effector-triggered immunity and blast resistance. The devastating losses caused by the blast fungus have been documented in most grasses, but this chapter discusses the use of major resistance genes to rice blast and wheat blast disease as an emerging threat to global food security. This chapter also highlights an emerging approach to breed for durable resistance to plant pathogens using gene editing technologies with an example: CRISPR-Cas9 mutagenesis of dominant S-genes for disease control.