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Poster

Session: Session 1 Presenting Authors at Posters (Odds)

P-273 - Continental drift: Population genomics of Rice Bacterial Leaf Blight in Africa and Asia

Monday, July 14, 2025
13:30 - 15:15  
Location: Confex Hall 3
Population Biology, Ecology & Genomics

    Presenting Author(s)

  • IQ

    Ian Lorenzo Quibod

    Institut de Recherche pour le Développement
    Montpellier, Languedoc-Roussillon, France

    • Author(s)

  • AD

    Alexis Dereeper

    Institut de Recherche pour le Développement
    Montpellier, Languedoc-Roussillon, France

  • MN

    Marian Hanna Nguyen

    International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)
    Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines

  • CS

    Coline Sciallano

    Inst De Res Pour Le Development (IRD)
    Montpellier, Languedoc-Roussillon, France

  • FA

    Florence Auguy

    Institut de Recherche pour le Développement
    Montpellier, Languedoc-Roussillon, France

  • MH

    Mathilde Hutin

    Institut de Recherche pour le Développement
    Montpellier, Languedoc-Roussillon, France

  • BS

    Boris Szurek

    Institut de Recherche pour le Développement
    Montpellier, Languedoc-Roussillon, France

  • SC

    Sebastien Cunnac

    Inst De Res Pour Le Development (IRD)
    Montpellier, Languedoc-Roussillon, France

  • VS

    Van Schepler-Luu

    International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)
    Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines

  • RO

    Ricardo Oliva

    International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)
    Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines

  • AP

    Alvaro Pérez-Quintero

    Inst De Res Pour Le Development (IRD)
    Montpellier, Languedoc-Roussillon, France

Cultivated rice was domesticated on two separate occasions: Oryza sativa in China ~ 9000 years ago and the other Oryza glaberrima in West Africa ~3000 years ago. Rice association with microorganisms was likely altered in the domestication process, which shaped the evolution and dispersal of diseases like rice bacterial leaf blight caused by the Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo).  In this study, we employed population genomics to uncover the diversity and expansion of two genetically distinct bacterial blight pathogens across Asia (AsXoo) and Africa (AfXoo). For O. sativa, we identified two specific AsXoo lineages likely dispersed with either japonica or indica varieties. AfXoo, initially adapted to O. glaberrima, has recently overcome the resistance to O. sativa, contributing to current epidemics in West Africa. Furthermore, we characterize the genomic differences in the two phylogroups and their impact on the disease. Our research provides a comprehensive evolutionary history of bacterial blight, and its past and present impact on rice cultivation