Rice genes/OsDjA2/and/OsERF104/, encoding a chaperone protein and an
APETELA2/ ethylene-responsive factor, respectively, are strongly induced
in a compatible interaction with blast fungus, and also have function in
plant susceptibility validated through gene silencing.

Here, we reported the CRISPR/Cas9 knockout of/OsDjA2/and/OsERF104/genes
resulting in considerable improvement of blast resistance. A total of
15/OsDjA2/(62.5%) and 17/OsERF104/(70.8%) T_0 transformed lines were
identified from 24 regenerated plants for each target and used in
downstream experiments. Phenotyping of homozygous T_1 mutant lines
revealed not only a significant decrease in the number of blast lesions
but also a reduction in the percentage of diseased leaf area, compared
with the infected control plants.

Our results supported CRISPR/Cas9-mediated target mutation in rice
susceptibility genes as a potential and alternative breeding strategy
for building resistance to blast disease.

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