Development of the “Third-Generation” Hybrid Rice in China

Rice is a major cereal crop for China. The development of the ‘‘three-line" hybrid rice system based on cytoplasmic male sterility in the 1970 s(first-generation) and the ‘‘two-line" hybrid rice system based on photoperiod-and thermo-sensitive genic male-sterile lines(second-generation)in the 1980 s has contributed significantly to rice yield increase and food security in China. Here we describe the development and implementation of the ‘‘third-generation" hybrid rice breeding system that is based on a transgenic approach to propagate and utilize stable recessive nuclear male sterile lines, and as such, the male sterile line and hybrid rice produced using such a system is nontransgenic. Such a system should overcome the intrinsic problems of the ‘‘first-generation" and‘‘second-generation" hybrid rice systems and hold great promise to further boost production of hybrid rice and other crops.     

光,温敏不育水稻雄性败育的细胞学研究

在长日季节里,安农S—1在28.1℃条件下,衡农S—1在29.2℃条件下可见到部分异常二分体和异常四分体等不正常减数分裂现象,但雄性败育主要发生在单核花粉期;在日均温32.4℃条件下,两个不育系的花粉母细胞解体成为无花粉型不育。农垦58S的花粉败育主要发生在单核靠边期,在部分花粉囊中可见到花粉与原生质形成的原生质花粉团。无论在上述什么温度条件下没有发现农垦58S花粉母细胞解体的无花粉不育现象。     

Characterization and identification of the candidate gene of rice thermo-sensitive genic male sterile gene <Emphasis Type="Italic">tms5</Emphasis> by mapping

Previous research has demonstrated that the thermo-sensitive genic male-sterile (TGMS) gene in rice was regulated by temperature. TGMS rice is important to hybrid rice production because the application of the TGMS system in two-line breeding is cost-effective, simple, efficient and overcomes the limitations of the cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) system. AnnongS is the first discovered and deeply studied TGMS rice line in China. Previous studies have suggested that AnnongS-1 and Y58S, two derivative TGMS lines of AnnongS, were both controlled by a single recessive gene named tms5, which was genetically mapped on chromosome 2. In the current study, three populations (AnnongS-1 × Nanjing11, Y58S × Q611, and Y58S × Guanghui122) were developed to investigate the tms5 gene molecular map. Analysis of recombination events of sterile samples, utilizing 125 probes covering the tms5 region, suggested that the tms5 gene was physically mapped to a 19 kb DNA fragment between two markers, 4039-1 and 4039-2, located on the BAC clone AP004039. Following the construction of a physical map between the two markers, ONAC023, a member of the NAC (NAM-ATAF-CUC-related) gene family, was identified as the candidate of the tms5 gene.     

Premature Tapetum Degeneration: a Major Cause of Abortive Pollen Development in Photoperiod Sensitive Genic Male Sterility in Rice

Photoperiod-sensitive genic male-sterile (PSGMS) rice ( Oryza sativa L.), a natural mutant found in the rice cultivar Nongken 58, is very useful for the development of hybrid rice cultivars. Despite its widespread use in breeding programs, the initial stage of the abortive development of PSGMS rice and the possible cytological mechanisms of pollen abortion have not been determined. In the present study, a systematic cytological comparison of the anther development of PSGMS rice with its normal fertile counterpart is conducted. The results show that pollen abortion in PSGMS rice first occurs before the pollen mother cell (PMC) stage, and continues during the entire process of pollen development until pollen degradation. The abortive process was closely associated with the abnormal behavior of the tapetum. Although tapetum degeneration in PSGMS rice initiates already at the PMC stage, it proceeds slowly and does not complete until the breakdown of the pollen. Such cytological observations were supported by the results of the TUNEL (TdT-mediated dUTP Nick End Labeling) assay, which detects DNA fragmentation resulting from programmed cell death (PCD), indicating that the premature tapetum degeneration is in the process of PCD.     

温度对长穗颈温敏核不育水稻(Oryza sativa L.)穗颈伸出长度的影响

以隐性长穗颈温敏核不育水稻(OryzasativaL)长选3S为材料,研究了温度对隐性长穗颈温敏核不育水稻长选3S穗颈伸出长度的影响。结果表明:人工24℃条件下,在始花前第12天至始花前第4天和始花当天至始花后第3天两个时段,穗颈节间伸长速度慢,两者节间日均伸长长度基本一致,但从始花前第4天至始花当天,长选3S穗颈节间伸长速度最快,其节间日均伸长的长度是培矮64S的2.1倍。在敏感期分别进行22、24、26、28℃4种人工温度处理,28℃条件下穗颈节间伸长受阻,出现包颈现象;26～22℃条件下穗颈伸出长度都为正值,不包颈,但穗颈伸出剑叶叶鞘的长度随温度降低而增加。通过对穗颈节间细胞数目和细胞长度的比较分析表明,长选3S穗颈节间的伸长主要是由于细胞分裂和细胞伸长共同作用所致,其中后者作用更显著,且随处理温度的升高,穗颈节间最内和最外层薄壁细胞数目减少,细胞平均长度变短。     

Evolutionary relationships between gene-structure and gene-regulation variation inDrosophila melanogaster

The evolutionary relationship between gene-structure and gene-regulation variation was examined by using data on allozyme and activity variation for a group of enzyme loci inDrosophila melanogaster. No significant correlation between the two kinds of variation was found, although the present data set is small and probably not sensitive for tests of association. Various hypotheses of association between the two types of variation are discussed and it is shown that any association between gene-structure and gene-regulation variation (positive or negative) would be sensitive to distortion by repeated bottlenecks and genetic drift. Furthermore, random forces would affect gene-structure (allozyme) variation, which is often controlled by one gene, more severely than enzyme activity variation, which is usually controlled by many genes. Measurements of activity variation would appear to provide an evolutionarily more stable and reliable estimate of. loci-specific ‘molecular flexibility’ than measurements of structural variation. It is suggested that locus-specific gene regulation studies employing a set of major alleles would provide a better test of association between gene-structure and gene-regulation variation. The relationship between gene regulation and quantitative variation is discussed and a number of population-genetic questions related to regulatory gene variation are formulated.     

Development of 15 polymorphic genic microsatellite DNA markers of Pacific abalone Haliotis discus hannai

Fifteen polymorphic genic microsatellite DNA markers were developed based on the expressed sequence tags of Pacific abalone Haliotis discus hannai we ourselves generated, which were used to type 32 individuals representing a cultured population. The number of alleles each locus ranged from two to 12. The observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.094 to 0.969 and from 0.091 to 0.878, respectively. Among 15 loci, four were found to deviate significantly from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (P_HW < 0.001). No linkage disequilibrium was found between these loci. It is certain that these markers will facilitate the management and exploitation of the genetic resource of Pacific abalone.     

No heightened condition dependence of zebra finch ornaments – a quantitative genetic approach

The developmental stress hypothesis offers a mechanism to maintain honesty of sexually selected ornaments, because only high quality individuals will be able to develop full ornamentation in the face of stress during early development. Experimental tests of this hypothesis have traditionally involved the manipulation of one aspect of the rearing conditions and an examination of effects on adult traits. Here, we instead use a statistically powerful quantitative genetic approach to detect condition dependence. We use animal models to estimate environmental correlations between a measure of early growth and adult traits. This way, we could make use of the sometimes dramatic differences in early growth of more than 800 individually cross‐fostered birds and measure the effect on a total of 23 different traits after birds reached maturity. We find strong effects of environmental growth conditions on adult body size, body mass and fat deposition, moderate effects on beak colour in both sexes, but no effect on song and plumage characters. Rather surprisingly, there was no effect on male attractiveness, both measured in mate choice trials and under socially complex conditions in aviaries. There was a trend for a positive effect of good growth conditions on the success at fertilizing eggs in males breeding in aviaries whereas longevity was not affected in either sex. We conclude that zebra finches are remarkably resilient to food shortage during growth and can compensate for poor growth conditions without much apparent life‐history trade‐offs. Our results do not support the hypothesis that sexually selected traits show heightened condition dependence compared to nonsexually selected traits.     

洋葱细胞质雄性不育系70及其保持系71基因组DNA的RAPD分析

采用RAPD技术,对洋葱细胞质雄性不育系70及其保持系71的基因组DNA的多态性进行分析。结果表明,在被检测的100条随机引物中,46条引物具有扩增产物,5条引物扩增出多态性条带。对这5条引物进行重复筛选和单株验证,只有G02扩增出的多态性片段,且表现稳定。推测该标记与育性有关。