Abstract: Rice blast, caused by Magnaporthe oryzae, is one of the most destructive diseases of rice worldwide. Development and use of resistant cultivars is considered as the most economical, effective and environment-friendly method to control this disease. With the availability of genomic sequences of both Oryza sativa and M. oryzae, the rice pathosystem has become the model system for dissection of interactions of plant-pathogen. Over the past 50 years, eighty-four blast resistance genes and large amount of quantitative trait locus for resistance to the pathogen have been identified through genetic analysis. Of them, eight major blast resistance genes and one recessive gene controlling partial resistance in rice have been cloned. In this review, the recent progress on molecular mapping and cloning of blast resistance genes was summarized. All the resistance genes mentioned were integrated into a genetic linkage map by compiling the information of DNA markers linked to individual resistance gene. The possible allelism relationship between resistance genes in a cluster was further discussed. In addition, the strategy for resistance gene cloning in the post-genome era was also discussed.

Key words: Oryza sativa, Magnaporthe oryzae, resistance gene, molecular mapping, molecular cloning