Decreased Symptoms of Rice Blast Disease on Leaves of bar-Expressing Transgenic Rice Plants following Treatment with Bialaphos. Toru Tada. Department of Genetic Engineering, Iwate Biotechnology Research Center, Kitakami, Iwate 024, Japan. Hiroyuki Kanzaki(1), Eiko Norita(1), Hirofumi Uchimiya(2), and Ikuo Nakamura(1). (1) Department of Genetic Engineering, Iwate Biotechnology Research Center, Kitakami, Iwate 024, Japan; (2) Molecular and Cellular Biology Institute, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113, Japan. MPMI 9:762-764. Accepted 28 June 1996. Copyright 1996 The American Phytopathological Society.

Transgenic rice plants harboring the bialaphos-resistant (bar) gene expressed from the maize ubiquitin promoter were inoculated with mycelia of the rice blast disease pathogen Magnaporthe grisea. Lesions caused by this fungal pathogen were decreased on the leaves of the transgenic rice plants following treatment with bialaphos. Pre-treatment of plants with bialaphos 1 day before the inoculation also suppressed disease symptoms to 20% of that in the control. Therefore, it may therefore be possible to control rice blast pathogen by the use of bar-transgenic rice plants along with bialaphos treatment.