Chondrulelike objects in short-period comet 81P/Wild 2

The Stardust spacecraft returned cometary samples that contain crystalline material, but the origin of the material is not yet well understood. We found four crystalline particles from comet 81P/Wild 2 that were apparently formed by flash-melting at a high temperature and are texturally, mineralogically, and compositionally similar to chondrules. Chondrules are submillimeter particles that dominate chondrites and are believed to have formed in the inner solar nebula. The comet particles show oxygen isotope compositions similar to chondrules in carbonaceous chondrites that compose the middle-to-outer asteroid belt. The presence of the chondrulelike objects in the comet suggests that chondrules have been transported out to the cold outer solar nebula and spread widely over the early solar system.     

Identification of avirulence genes in the rice blast fungus corresponding to three resistance genes in Japanese differentials

The pathogenicity of progeny from crosses among three Chinese isolates of Magnaporthe grisea collected from rice was tested on three Japanese differentials (Ishikarishiroke, Aichiasahi, K 59) having the blast resistance genes Pii, Pia, and Pit, respectively. Monogenic control was demonstrated for avirulence to the differentials. To identify resistance genes corresponding to the avirulence genes, the resistance and susceptibility in F₃ lines of the cultivars in response to the parents of the crosses were analyzed genetically. The three avirulence genes identified, designated Avr-Pii, Avr-Pia, and Avr-Pit, appear to correspond to resistance genes Pii, Pia, and Pit, respectively. The monogenic control of avirulence in the fungus and monogenic dominant resistance in rice cultivars supports a gene-for-gene relation in the Pii-, Pia-, or Pit-dependent resistance to the rice blast fungus in rice cultivars.