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To study the possibility of utilizing genetically engineered Leifsonia xyli subsp. cynodontis ( Lxc) as an endophytic bacterium in rice, we constructed an Escherichia coli–Lxc shuttle vector, pLGUS, containing a β-glucuronidase reporter gene, which was stable both in vitro and in vivo. Lxc grows and expresses the β-glucuronidase reporter gene in all parts of rice, except for seed. A 2-year field study using three rice varieties from China showed that Lxc inoculation did not have a negative effect on the growth and yield of any of these varieties. Therefore, Lxc has the potential to be used as a benign endophyte for the expression of foreign genes in rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abnormal environment weather can cause rice photoperiod-thermo-sensitive genic male sterile (PTGMS) lines fertile or partially fertile and thus cause the mixture of true hybrids with selfing seeds. Seedling-specific green-revertible albino leaf color mutant can be used to distinguish the real hybrids. Besides, it can also be used as an ideal material to research the development of chloroplast and biosynthesis of chlorophyll. The phenotype of leaf color mutants includes light green, yellowing, albino, green-revertible albino. Gene mutations affecting the synthesis and degradation of photosynthetic pigments, lycopene and heme, the differentiation and development of chloroplast, gibberellins (GAs) biosynthesis, can change the leaf color. We have created a PTGMS line with seedling-specific green-revertible albino leaf named W01S. The leaf phenotype, pollen sterility and fertility, agronomic traits, heredity, gene mapping and RNA-Seq of the differentially expressed genes between albino and green-revertible leaves were investigated. The results showed that W01S is a practical PTGMS line as Pei’ai 64S. The mutation of candidate gene Os03g0594100 ( ent -isokaurene C2-hydroxylase-like) in W01S can be related to the biosynthesis of GAs, indole acetic acids, ethylene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming affects both rice ( Oryza sativa ) yields and grain quality. Rice chalkiness due to high temperature during grain filling would lower the grain quality. The biochemical and molecular mechanisms responsible for the increased occurrence of chalkiness under high temperature are not fully understood. Previous research suggested that cytosolic pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase (cyPPDK, EC 2.7.9.1) in rice modulates carbon metabolism. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between cyPPDK and high temperature-induced chalkiness. High temperature treatments were applied during the grain filling of two rice cultivars (9311 and TXZ-25) which had different sensitivity of chalkiness to high temperature. Chalkiness was increased significantly under high temperature treatment, especially for TXZ-25. A shortened grain filling duration and a decreased grain weight in both cultivars were caused by high temperature treatment. A reduction in PPDK activities due to high temperature was observed during the middle and late grain filling periods, accompanied by down regulated cyPPDK mRNA and protein levels. The temperature effects on the developmental regulation of PPDK activity were confirmed at transcription, translation and post-translational levels. PPDK activities were insensitive to variation in PPDK levels, suggesting the rapid phosphorylation mechanism of this protein. The two varieties showed similar responses to the high temperature treatment in both PPDK activities and chalkiness. We concluded that high temperature-induced chalkiness was associated with the reduction of PPDK activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have indicated that China is one of the domestication centres of Asian cultivated rice ( Oryza sativa), and common wild rice ( O. rufipogon) is the progenitor of O. sativa. However, the number of domestication times and the geographic origin of Asian cultivated rice in China are still under debate. In this study, 100 accessions of Asian cultivated rice and 111 accessions of common wild rice in China were selected to examine the relationship between O. sativa and O. rufipogon and thereby infer the domestication and evolution of O. sativa in China through sequence analyses of six gene regions, trn C-ycf6 in chloroplast genomes, cox3 in mitochondrial genomes and ITS, Ehd1, Waxy, Hd1 in nuclear genomes. The results indicated that the two subspecies of O. sativa (indica and japonica) were domesticated independently from different populations of O. rufipogon with gene flow occurring later from japonica to indica; Southern China was the genetic diversity centre of O. rufipogon, and the Pearl River basin near the Tropic of Cancer was the domestication centre of O. sativa in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]