A project to study major pest disasters and the associated genesis and control, initiated under the National 973 Program, passed a verification check on October 2005. The project works on the key scientific issues involving weakened disease resistance and pests?¯ rampant activities. Researchers have achieved noticeable progresses in cloning disease resistant genes and pathogenic genes, and in studying pests?¯ drug resistance and delayed breeding, and pathogenic interactions.

Researchers found that two mutation spots that lead to the drug resistance of Nilaparvata lugens sit in Y138S of Nla1 and Y173S of Nla3 respectively. The discovery leads to new technical lines to curb the damages imposed by the insects on major crops. The finding is also important for raising China?¯s innovative technical level in fighting pests and securing food safety. In addition, researchers cloned genetic starters that induce the occurrence of rice blast, and established a new silent genetic carrier using DNA|?, a new satellite DNA molecule from TYLCCNV. The finding is of potential application perspectives for genetic engineering of broad-spectrum disease resistance, and for sorting out plants?¯ functional genes. The project also cloned a new disease resistant gene named Pi-d2 from paddy rice, and identified and spotted a number of QTLs for rice blast.