Chinese Scientists Locate Key Rice Gene
6 May 2008 A recent report indicates that Chinese researchers may have uncovered an elusive gene in rice that plays a key role in the crop’s harvest potential, according to Yahoo! News.
The study, described in the journal Nature Genetics, noted that the productivity of a rice plant is determined by several traits — the number and size of its grains; the height of the plant; and its flowering time, which reflects its response to the prevailing climate.
Years of previous work in rice research have helped scientists close in on the plant’s Chromosome 7 for a gene that appears to affect all three of these characteristics, what the article describes as “the magic sequence.”
The gene was identified by a team led by Qifa Zhang of Huangzhong Agricultural University in Wuhan. His team planted 30,000 rice plants in a bid to track down the gene. The initial plantings were winnowed down to 1,082 plants that had tell-tale low yields, as they had fewer and smaller grains, were short, and flowered earlier. The culprit of the yield problems was found to be the lack of a gene called Ghd7.
When Ghd7 was slotted into these lagging plants, the yield traits were transformed. The time taken to flowering doubled and the plants became almost two-thirds taller. The investigators then took a snapshot of how Ghd7 functioned in 19 different strains of rice that originate from around Asia, ranging from Japan in the north to the Philippines, Myanmar, and India in the south. They found five different mutations of the key gene.
Less active or inactive versions of Ghd7 were found in rice grown in cooler regions. These mutations encouraged the plant to flower earlier, thus enabling it to be cultivated in areas where there is a short growing season and a temperate climate.
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