QTL Analysis of Aluminum Resistance in Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Aluminum (Al) toxicity is considered as one of the primary causes of low-rice productivity in acid soils. In the present study, quantitative trait loci (QTLs) controlling Al resistance based on relative root elongation (RRE) were dissected using a complete linkage map and a recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from a cross of Al-tolerant japonica cultivar Asominori (Oryza sativa L.) and Al-sensitive indica cultivar IR24 (O. sativa L.). A total of three QTLs (qRRE-1, qRRE-9, and qRRE-11) were detected on chromosomes 1, 9, and 11 with LOD score ranging from 2.64 to 3.60 and the phenotypic variance explained from 13.5 to 17.7%. The Asominori alleles were all associated with Al resistance at all the three QTLs. The existence of these QTLs was confirmed using Asominori chromosome segment substitution lines (CSSLs) in IR24 genetic background (IAS). By QTL comparative analysis, the two QTLs (qRRE-1and qRRE-9) on chromosomes 1 and 9 appeared to be consistent among different rice populations while qRRE-11 was newly detected and syntenic with a major Al resistance gene on chromosome 10 of maize. This region may provide an important case for isolating genes responsible for different mechanisms of Al resistance among different cereals. These results also provide the possibilities of enhancing Al resistance in rice breeding program by marker-assisted selection (MAS) and pyramiding QTLs.     

水稻矮缩病毒昆明分离物抗血清制备及免疫捕捉PCR检测

由水稻矮缩病毒(Rice dwarf virus,RDV)引起的水稻矮缩病害,最早由日本报道,随后在东南亚等国以及我国的福建、云南等南方稻区普遍发生,云南主要发生于中部及南部地区[1]。水稻在苗期至分蘖期感病后,植株矮缩,分蘖增多,叶片浓绿,僵直,出现白斑,生长后期病稻不能抽穗结实,在暴发流行年份可以引起水稻的严重减产。RDV在分类上属于呼肠孤病毒科(Reoviridae)植物呼肠孤病毒属(Phytoreovirus)成员,病毒粒子为正十二面体球形结构,直径约为69.3nm,无刺突,无脂蛋白外膜包被,具有双层的蛋白衣壳[2]。病毒基因组由12条双链RNA片段组成,其中S8编…     

Aluminum-inhibited root growth of rice seedlings is mediated through putrescine accumulation

The effects of AlCl₃ on growth and polyamine levels of rice roots were investigated. When rice roots were treated with AlCl₃, root growth was markedly inhibited. AlCl₃ treatment resulted in a higher putrescine content and lower spermidine and spermine contents in rice roots. d-Argnine and α-methylornithine, inhibitors of putrescine biosynthesis, caused a reduced content of putrescine in rice roots under Al stress. AlCl₃ treatment also resulted in a decrease in diamine oxidase activity in rice roots. The growth of rice roots in the presence of AlCl₃ was recovered after the addition of d-arginine or α-methylornithine. The protective effect of d-arginine or α-methylornithine in counteracting AlCl₃-inhibited growth of rice roots is unlikely caused by reduction of Al uptake. Furthermore, the effect of the growth recovery in AlCl₃-treated rice roots by d-arginine or α-methylornithine was reversed by the addition of putrescine. Our results strongly suggest that putrescine accumulation is a factor causing growth inhibition of rice roots under Al tress. Evidence is also presented to show that lignification is responsible for putrescine- and AlCl₃-inhibited growth of rice roots.     

An Efficient Rice Mutagenesis System Based on Suspension-Cultured Cells

Plant mutants are important bio-resources for crop breeding and gene functional studies. Conventional methods for generating mutant libraries by mutagenesis of seeds with physical or chemical agents are of low efficiency. Here, we developed a highly-efficient ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) mutagenesis system based on suspension-cultured cells, with rice (Oryza sativa L.) as an example. We show that treatment of suspension-cultured tiny cell clusters with 0.4% EMS for 18-22h followed by differentiation and regeneration produced as high as 29.4% independent mutant lines with visible phenotypic variations, including a number of important agronomic traits such as grain size, panicle size, grain or panicle shape, tiller number and angle, heading date, male sterility, and disease sensitivity. No mosaic mutant was observed in the mutant lines tested. In this mutant library, we obtained a mutant with an abnormally elongated uppermost internode. Sequencing and functional analysis revealed that this is a new allelic mutant of eui (elongated uppermost internode) caused by two point mutations in the first exon of the EUI gene, representing a successful example of this mutagenesis system.     

Chronopathological Aspects of Disease Incidence in Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Rice seedlings maintained under uncontrolled glasshouse conditions were inoculated with conidial suspensions of a fungal pathogen, Helminthosporium oryzae, at various times during the 24 h. Significant increase in the percent germination and germ tube length of conidia were observed in the rice samples inoculated at 02:00 and 06:00h. The 24 h temporal variation in leaf temperature was positively correlated with variation in stomatal movements. The results indicate a 24 h rhythm in the behavior of the fungal pathogen on the host in relation to the conditions of the growing environment. In all the inoculated seedlings, the appearance of a large number of brown leaf spots was confined to the light span. Among the plants inoculated, earlier initiation of brown leaf spot appearance, maximum number of leaf spots, and highest disease severity were observed when plants were inoculated at 02:00h. There was a positive correlation between disease severity of the host and in vivo values of percent germination of conidia and germ tube length of the pathogen in plants inoculated between 02:00 and 06:00h. The findings of this study implicate that light intensity and temperature could play a predominant role in controlling disease susceptibility rhythms in plants.     

Construction of a genomewide RNAi mutant library in rice

Long hairpin RNA (hpRNA) transgenes are a powerful tool for gene function studies in plants, but a genomewide RNAi mutant library using hpRNA transgenes has not been reported for plants. Here, we report the construction of a hpRNA library for the genomewide identification of gene function in rice using an improved rolling circle amplification‐mediated hpRNA (RMHR) method. Transformation of rice with the library resulted in thousands of transgenic lines containing hpRNAs targeting genes of various function. The target mRNA was down‐regulated in the hpRNA lines, and this was correlated with the accumulation of siRNAs corresponding to the double‐stranded arms of the hpRNA. Multiple members of a gene family were simultaneously silenced by hpRNAs derived from a single member, but the degree of such cross‐silencing depended on the level of sequence homology between the members as well as the abundance of matching siRNAs. The silencing of key genes tended to cause a severe phenotype, but these transgenic lines usually survived in the field long enough for phenotypic and molecular analyses to be conducted. Deep sequencing analysis of small RNAs showed that the hpRNA‐derived siRNAs were characteristic of Argonaute‐binding small RNAs. Our results indicate that RNAi mutant library is a high‐efficient approach for genomewide gene identification in plants.     

Analysis of sequence patterns proximal to the stop codons in Oryza sativa

Abstract

A comprehensive analysis of sequence patterns around the stop codons was performed, by using more than 26,000 rice full-length cDNA sequences. Here it is shown that the bias was most outstanding at the position immediately before the stop codons (?1 codon), where the AAC codon was strongly preferred among ANC codons. Compared with other positions, the codon immediately after the stop codons (+1 codon) also displayed an apparent difference, and had a strong consensus for base A at the first, C at the second, and A at the third letters, respectively. Notably, the base biases at the positions directly downstream of the stop codons, such as the +4, +5 and +6 positions, were much stronger than other positions in the 3′-UTR region, suggesting that those base positions might act as an extended stop signal in the process of protein synthesis. Examination of the relationship between sequence pattern and gene expression level, assessed by CAI values and EST counting, revealed a tendency towards bigger base biases for highly expressed genes. It could be inferred that the translation stop signal is possibly involved in many sequence recognition elements other than the stop codons; highly expressed genes should hold strong sequence consensus around the stop codons for efficient translation termination.     

基于SSR标记的宁夏水稻遗传多样性分析

选择自上世纪80年代以来的59份宁夏水稻种质,利用分布于12条染色体的82对SSR引物进行遗传多样性和遗传相似性分析。共检测到339个等位基因,品种间不同位点等位基因数目2~19个,平均4.13个。Nei基因多样性指数变幅为0.0333~0.9164,平均为0.4394。按种质释放或审定年代,55份水稻分为3组分析,随着年代的增加,等位基因数和遗传多样性指数均呈增大趋势,且3群体间等位基因数和多样性指数差异均达极显著水平（P<0.001）。UPGMA聚类分析表明,参试59份水稻种质在遗传相似系数0.78水平上聚为5大类,其中第Ⅰ类为1份香稻种质;第Ⅱ、Ⅳ类均为3份种质;第Ⅲ类有5份种质,与吉林水稻相似;绝大多数品种被聚为第Ⅴ类,占参试材料数的79.7％。对比宁夏水稻选育品种系谱,大多数种质具有宁夏骨干亲本红旗12、京引39、东方红2号、京引59等的血缘,种质间亲缘关系较近。虽然近年来宁夏水稻的遗传多样性有增加的趋势,但遗传基础狭窄,参试种质的相似系数在0.75以上,最高达0.97。应继续加大力度引进和创新亲本材料,拓宽宁夏水稻的遗传基础。