Progress and perspective in wheat blast research

Wheat blast is an emerging deadly disease which can cause 10%-100% of yield losses. The disease primarily devastating only in South America, was first identified in Asia in 2016, posing a great potential threat to world wheat production. Here, we reviewed the features of wheat blast pathology and epidemiology, the resistance sources, the resistance mechanisms, and the integrated disease management strategies. The success of international collaboration on fighting the disease is also addressed, which provides proof of concept model that we can follow in our studies. Wheat blast has not been found in China, but we need to be very cautious and highly alert since there is a risk that the disease can outbreak in certain areas of southern China. The unusual weather pattern will put the situation even worse. To keep national wheat production safe, we need collaborate with International Wheat Blast Consortium to carry out necessary researches and build early warning and disaster preparedness systems to facilitate mitigation of the disease of high consequences and importance.