Genetic and Morphological Studies on Glabrousness of a Somaclonal Variant Induced by Anther Culture in Rice (Oryza sativa L.).

Abstract

Glabrousness of the rice cultivar Sumitakara produced through somaclonal variation by anther culture was studied genetically and morphologically. Scanning electron microscopic observation revealed that all of twelve pubescent rices including the mother cultivar Koganebare had one type of hair and three kinds of bristles on their leaf surface. In contrast, Sumitakara as well as the other glabrous cultivars bred by crossbreeding had one type of hair and no bristles. The results imply that the glabrousness of Sumitakara is due to inhibition of bristle formation and that hair formation is controlled differently from bristle formation. It was interpreted from the genetic analysis of the number of bristles on leaves of both F1 and F2 populations of Sumitakara crossed with glabrous or pubescent cultivars that the glabrousness of Sumitakara could be controlled by one recessive gene which was located at the same locus as that in a glabrous cultivar Akenohoshi bred by crossbreeding. Reversion to pubescence, on the other hand, suggested trichome formation in rice was regulated by several genes.