Sheath blight (SB) caused by Rhizoctonia solani is one of the three major diseases of rice, and now has become the most severe disease causing rice yield loss in China. Breeding and use of varieties resistant to SB is crucial in controlling the disease, but the advances achieved have been limited due to the lack of highly SB-resistant rice germplasm. Genetic analysis revealed that the SB resistance in rice was a typical quantitative trait controlled by multi-genes. Although many QTLs conferring resistance to SB have been identified in recent years, most of the QTLs only showed small effects and few of them have been evaluated for utilization potential. Many R. solani-resistant resources have been found in wild rice species, microorganisms and other plant species. It is already known that the SB-resistance could be improved in transgenic rice plants by genetic transformation. This paper reviewed the genetic mapping of loci associated with resistance to rice SB, the evaluation of the potential of resistance QTLs, and the resistant resources found in various organisms besides rice. To develop SB-resistant rice varieties, it is important to develop and explore new resistant rice germplasms, fine map and evaluate resistance QTLs, and also to pay attention to various bio-resources showing resistance to R. solani.
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