Disease resistance is essential for reliable maize production. In a long-term tug-of-war between maize and its pathogenic microbes, naturally occurring resistance genes gradually accumulate and play a key role in protecting maize from various destructive diseases. Recently, significant progress has been made in deciphering the genetic basis of disease resistance in maize. Enhancing disease resistance can now be explored at the molecular level, from marker-assisted selection to genomic selection, transgenesis technique, and genome editing. In view of the continuing accumulation of cloned resistance genes and in-depth understanding of their resistance mechanisms, coupled with rapid progress of biotechnology, it is expected that the large-scale commercial application of molecular breeding of resistant maize varieties will soon become a reality.

抗病性对于可靠的玉米生产至关重要。在玉米与其病原微生物的长期拉锯战中，天然存在的抗性基因逐渐积累，在保护玉米免受各种破坏性病害的侵害中发挥着关键作用。最近，在破译玉米抗病性的遗传基础方面取得了重大进展。现在可以在分子水平上探索增强抗病性，从标记辅助选择到基因组选择、转基因技术和基因组编辑。鉴于抗性基因克隆的不断积累及其抗性机制的深入了解，加上生物技术的快速进步，预计抗性玉米品种分子育种的大规模商业化应用将很快成为现实。