2018年1月22日，Nature Genetics发表了题为“Bph6 encodes an exocyst-localized protein and confers broad resistance to planthoppers in rice”的文章。

文章由武汉大学生命科学学院杂交水稻国家重点实验室何光存教授课题组完成。

本文介绍了在水稻抗稻飞虱的研究中取得的重要进展：克隆了抗稻飞虱的主效基因Bph6，并进一步研究了其抗虫机制。

褐飞虱（BPH）和白背飞虱（WBPH）是水稻中最具破坏性的害虫，它们对整个亚洲的水稻生产构成严重威胁。因此，迫切需要鉴定抗性基因和培育抗稻飞虱的水稻品种。在这里，我们图位克隆并功能分析了一个抗稻飞虱的基因Bph6。Bph6编码一个以前未被研究的蛋白，定位于exocyst，并与exocyst亚基OsEXO70E1相互作用。Bph6表达增加胞吐并参与细胞壁的维持和增强。在Bph6的植物中，协调的激活细胞分裂素，水杨酸和茉莉酮酸信号传导途径，这些植物对所有测试的BPH和WBPH生物型显示出广泛的抗性，并且不会减产（因为这些植物在受到BPH严重侵染时，仍保持高的产量）。我们的研究结果表明，在常年受到稻飞虱侵害的地区进化而来一个优良的抗性基因，对控制农业害虫非常有价值。

The brown planthopper (BPH) and white-backed planthopper (WBPH) are the most destructive insect pests of rice, and they pose serious threats to rice production throughout Asia. Thus, there are urgent needs to identify resistance-conferring genes and to breed planthopper-resistant rice varieties. Here we report the map-based cloning and functional analysis of Bph6, a gene that confers resistance to planthoppers in rice. Bph6 encodes a previously uncharacterized protein that localizes to exocysts and interacts with the exocyst subunit OsEXO70E1. Bph6 expression increases exocytosis and participates in cell wall maintenance and reinforcement. A coordinated cytokinin, salicylic acid and jasmonic acid signaling pathway is activated in Bph6-carrying plants, which display broad resistance to all tested BPH biotypes and to WBPH without sacrificing yield, as these plants were found to maintain a high level of performance in a field that was heavily infested with BPH. Our results suggest that a superior resistance gene that evolved long ago in a region where planthoppers are found year round could be very valuable for controlling agricultural insect pests.