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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]

On the basis of the fertility observation of hybrids from Pei'ai 64S and Nongken 58S crossed with an indica variety Nanjing11 and japonica marker line FL235, respectively, The plant growth chambers were employed to expose the F2 plant individuals to such different day mean temperature as 24 degrees C, 27 degrees C and 30 degrees C during natural long hour daylight from July to August in Wuhan (30 degrees 27' N), with a view to analyzing the difference in the temperature sensitivity of fertility between the two kinds of different fertility-restoring genes for two years running. The results showed that, whether it was under long daylight and high temperature or under long daylight and middle temperature, the mean natural seed-set percent of F1 was higher than 68.75%, suggesting that Nanjing11 could completely restore the fertility of Pei'ai 64S. And however, under natural high temperature condition, N58S x FL235 F1 could set seed naturally with 21.93%-26.75%, the mean natural seed set percent of F1 was 46.36%-48.38% in natural middle temperature condition, ability of FL235 to restore the fertility of N58S was affected by high temperature. Further analysis proved that temperature could not alter the inheritance mode of F2 but affect the extent of fertility genes expression in Nanjing11. On the other hand, the expression of fertility-genes of FL235 was sensitive to high temperature, whose the putative critical temperature was 27 degrees C, and high temperature influenced not only the genetic interactions but also the segregation modes in F2 generations.

It has been a long haul but photoperiod- and thermo-sensitive genic male sterile (PTGMS) rice has not been freely used in hybrid rice production because there are two perplexing problems corresponding to the critical sterility temperature point (CSTP): the uncertainty of the CSTP segregating pattern and the instability of CSTP for every originally useful line. N5088S, the most widely commercialized japonica-type PTGMS line in China, also saw that its CSTP variants have been isolated but with all other agronomic characteristics unchanged. In this report we analyzed the genetic basis of CSTP, by employing the iterated expectation and conditional maximization (IECM) algorithm on four tiller-splitting-formed sets of seven generations from N5088S and its CSTP-variant H5088S, each set treated with one temperature regime. The main results indicated that there are two dominant major genes and polygene, as well as their respective epistasis conditioning the CSTP in the 23.5 degrees C regime. Based on the results obtained, the strategy for breeding of PTGMS lines with stable low CSTP was outlined.