The fungus Magnaporthe oryzae ravages rice and wheat crops and poses a formidable threat to human food on a global scale. Researchers from INRAE, CIRAD and the Université de Montpellier, together with the Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Centre (HHRRC) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) have discovered a gene in rice for resistance to this pathogen, challenging the findings of a study that remained the reference for 25 years. Published in Nature Plants on XX, these results pave the way to new solutions to improve disease resistance in crops that are compatible with the development of sustainable agriculture.