Phenotypic Analysis and Gene Cloning of Rice Floury Endosperm Mutant (White-Core Rice).

The composition and distribution of storage substances in rice endosperm directly affect grain quality. A floury endosperm mutant, (white-core rice), was identified, exhibiting a loose arrangement of starch granules with a floury opaque appearance in the inner layer of mature grains, resulting in reduced grain weight. The total starch and amylose content remained unchanged, but the levels of the four component proteins in the mutant brown rice significantly decreased.

OsSTS, a Novel Allele of Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Kinase 4 (OsMKK4), Controls Grain Size and Salt Tolerance in Rice.

Soil salinization is one of the most common abiotic stresses of rice, which seriously affects the normal growth of rice. Breeding salt-tolerant varieties have become one of the important ways to ensure food security and sustainable agricultural development. However, the mechanisms underlying salt tolerance control still need to be clarified.

Knocking Out to Improve Rice Grain Quality Using CRISPR/Cas9 System.

The demand for rice grain quality, particularly in terms of eating and cooking quality, is increasingly concerning at present. However, the limited availability of rice-quality-related gene resources and time-consuming and inefficient traditional breeding methods have severely hindered the pace of rice grain quality improvement. Exploring novel methods for improving rice grain quality and creating new germplasms is an urgent problem that needs to be addressed.

Characterization and in silico analysis of the domain unknown function DUF568-containing gene family in rice (Oryza sativa L.).

Background: Domains of unknown function (DUF) proteins are a number of uncharacterized and highly conserved protein families in eukaryotes. In plants, some DUFs have been predicted to play important roles in development and response to abiotic stress. Among them, DUF568-containing protein family is plant-specific and has not been described previously.

[Hi-Meth: a platform for high-throughput detection of site-specific DNA methylation].

Cytosine methylation is one of the major types of DNA epigenetic modifications and plays an important role in maintaining normal cell function and regulating gene expression. Bisulfite sequencing PCR (BSP) based cloning and sequencing is a general method for detecting DNA methylation at specific sites, which can clarify the methylation status of each CpG site in the target fragment. However, this method requires large amounts of single-clonal sequencing, which is complicated to operate, time consuming and expensive.

Rapid improvement of rice eating and cooking quality through gene editing toward glutelin as target.

Rice eating and cooking quality (ECQ) is a major concern of breeders and consumers, determining market competitiveness worldwide. Rice grain protein content (GPC) is negatively related to ECQ, making it possible to improve ECQ by manipulating GPC. However, GPC is genetically complex and sensitive to environmental conditions; therefore, little progress has been made in traditional breeding for ECQ.

Crop Quality Improvement Through Genome Editing Strategy.

Good quality of crops has always been the most concerning aspect for breeders and consumers. However, crop quality is a complex trait affected by both the genetic systems and environmental factors, thus, it is difficult to improve through traditional breeding strategies. Recently, the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing system, enabling efficiently targeted modification, has revolutionized the field of quality improvement in most crops.

Suppressing chlorophyll degradation by silencing OsNYC3 improves rice resistance to Rhizoctonia solani, the causal agent of sheath blight.

Necrotrophic fungus Rhizoctonia solani Kühn (R. solani) causes serious diseases in many crops worldwide, including rice and maize sheath blight (ShB). Crop resistance to the fungus is a quantitative trait and resistance mechanism remains largely unknown, severely hindering the progress on developing resistant varieties.

Erratum to: Rapid generation of genetic diversity by multiplex CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing in rice.

The same figure was misused for the PCR/RE assay results of Gn1a and GW2 fragments in Figure 3, and the arrows in the graphicsal result of GW2 were not on the tape. The corrected Figure 3 is as follows.

Natural variation of OsGluA2 is involved in grain protein content regulation in rice.

Grain protein content (GPC) affects rice nutrition quality. Here, we identify two stable quantitative trait loci (QTLs), qGPC-1 and qGPC-10, controlling GPC in a mapping population derived from indica and japonica cultivars crossing. Map-based cloning reveals that OsGluA2, encoding a glutelin type-A2 precursor, is the candidate gene underlying qGPC-10.

OsHOP2 regulates the maturation of crossovers by promoting homologous pairing and synapsis in rice meiosis.

Meiotic recombination is closely linked with homologous pairing and synapsis. Previous studies have shown that HOMOLOGOUS PAIRING PROTEIN2 (HOP2), plays an essential role in homologous pairing and synapsis. However, the mechanism by which HOP2 regulates crossover (CO) formation has not been elucidated.

Rapid generation of genetic diversity by multiplex CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing in rice.

The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated endonuclease 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) system has emerged as a promising technology for specific genome editing in many species. Here we constructed one vector targeting eight agronomic genes in rice using the CRISPR/Cas9 multiplex genome editing system. By subsequent genetic transformation and DNA sequencing, we found that the eight target genes have high mutation efficiencies in the T generation.

QTL editing confers opposing yield performance in different rice varieties.

Grain yield is one of the most important and complex trait for genetic improvement in crops; it is known to be controlled by a number of genes known as quantitative trait loci (QTLs). In the past decade, many yield-contributing QTLs have been identified in crops. However, it remains unclear whether those QTLs confer the same yield performance in different genetic backgrounds.

Molecular evolution and functional divergence of soluble starch synthase genes in cassava (manihot esculenta crantz).

Soluble starch synthases (SSs) are major enzymes involved in starch biosynthesis in plants. Cassava starch has many remarkable characteristics, which should be influenced by the evolution of SS genes in this starchy root crop. In this work, we performed a comprehensive phylogenetic and evolutionary analysis of the soluble starch synthases in cassava.

Mutation of cellulose synthase gene improves the nutritive value of rice straw.

Rice straw is an important roughage resource for ruminants in many rice-producing countries. In this study, a rice brittle mutant (BM, mutation in OsCesA4, encoding cellulose synthase) and its wild type (WT) were employed to investigate the effects of a cellulose synthase gene mutation on rice straw morphological fractions, chemical composition, stem histological structure and in situ digestibility. The morphological fractions investigation showed that BM had a higher leaf sheath proportion (43.

Seed size is determined by the combinations of the genes controlling different seed characteristics in rice.

Rice seed size is an important agronomic trait in determining the yield potential, and four seed size related genes (GS3, GW2, qSW5/GW5 and GIF1) have been cloned in rice so far. However, the relationship among these four genes is still unclear, which will impede the process of gene pyramiding breeding program to some extent. To shade light on the relationship of above four genes, gene expression analysis was performed with GS3-RNAi, GW2-RNAi lines and CSSL of qSW5 at the transcriptional level.

Introgression of qPE9-1 allele, conferring the panicle erectness, leads to the decrease of grain yield per plant in japonica rice (Oryza sativa L.).

Panicle architecture is closely related to yield formation. The qPE9-1 gene has been proved to be widely used in high-yield rice cultivar developments, conferring erect panicle character in japonica rice. Recently, qPE9-1 has been successfully cloned; however, the genetic effect on grain yield per plant of the erect panicle allele qPE9-1 is controversial yet.

Anatomical and chemical characteristics of culm of rice brittle mutant bc7(t).

Brittleness culm is an important agronomic trait that has a potential usefulness in agricultural activity as animal forage. In the present study, the anatomy of culm of rice (Oryza sativa L.) brittle mutant bc7(t) was investigated with light microscopy and electron microscopy.

Mutations in the F-box gene LARGER PANICLE improve the panicle architecture and enhance the grain yield in rice.

Panicle architecture is one of the most important agronomical traits that directly contribute to grain yield in rice (Oryza sativa L.). We report herein an in-depth characterization of two allelic larger panicle (lp) mutants that show significantly increased panicle size as well as improved plant architecture.

Genetic analysis of starch paste viscosity parameters in glutinous rice (Oryza sativa L.).

Starch paste viscosity plays an important role in estimating the cooking, eating, and processing quality of rice. The inheritance of starch paste viscosity in glutinous rice remains undefined. In the present study, 118 glutinous rice accessions were collected, and the genotypes of 17 starch synthesis-related genes (SSRG) were analyzed by using 43 gene-specific molecular markers.

Allelic diversities in rice starch biosynthesis lead to a diverse array of rice eating and cooking qualities.

More than half of the world's population uses rice as a source of carbon intake every day. Improving grain quality is thus essential to rice consumers. The three main properties that determine rice eating and cooking quality--amylose content, gel consistency, and gelatinization temperature--correlate with one another, but the underlying mechanism of these properties remains unclear.

Erect panicle2 encodes a novel protein that regulates panicle erectness in indica rice.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) inflorescence (panicle) architecture is an important agronomic trait for rice breeding. A number of high-yielding japonica rice strains, characterized by an erect panicle (EP) of their architecture, have been released as commercial varieties in China.

[Molecular mechanism of leaf development].

Leaf plays important roles during plant development for their function of photosynthesis and transpiration. Leaf development includes initiation of leaf primordium and establishment of leaf polarity. Various studies indicate that leaf development is controlled through the interaction of transcription factors, small RNAs and auxin.